Covid-19: World Bank to roll out $160 billion in emergency coronavirus aid over 15 months

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World Bank, David Malpass, International Finance Corporation, coronavirus, Covid-19

World Bank President David Malpass.

Washington, United States - India will be the largest beneficiary of the first wave of programnes with a facility for $1 billion (Dh 3.67bn).

By AFP

Published: Thu 2 Apr 2020, 10:42 PM

Last updated: Fri 3 Apr 2020, 1:05 AM

The World Bank on Thursday approved a plan to roll out $160 billion (Dh 587.71bn) in emergency aid over 15 months to help countries deal with the impact of the global coronavirus pandemic.
The board of the Washington-based development lender announced the first set of fast-track crisis funding, with an initial $1.9 billion (Dh 6.98bn) going to projects in 25 countries, and operations moving forward in another 40 nations, the bank said in a statement.
"We are working to strengthen developing nations' ability to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic and shorten the time to economic and social recovery," said World Bank President David Malpass.
"The poorest and most vulnerable countries will likely be hit the hardest, and our teams around the world remain focused on country-level and regional solutions to address the ongoing crisis."

A fast track response to the threat of #Coronavirus. @WorldBank Group launches the first wave of its emergency operations. https://t.co/N72v47UVIY pic.twitter.com/QNRtGAEGq6
- World Bank (@WorldBank) April 2, 2020

The bank also is working to redeploy $1.7 billion (Dh 6.24bn) of existing funding, including the use of "catastrophic drawdowns," a type of emergency credit line.
India will be the largest beneficiary of the first wave of programnes with a facility for $1 billion (Dh 3.67bn), followed by Pakistan with $200 million Dh 734.64m) and Afghanistan with a little over $100 million (Dh 367.32m), but funding is going to countries on nearly every continent, the bank said.
In addition, the World Bank's private sector arm, the International Finance Corporation, is providing $8 billion (Dh 29.39bn) in financing "to help private companies affected by the pandemic and preserve jobs."