ADB president Masatsugu Asakawa. | File
Centre in talks with bank for funding stimulus package for MSMEs, health services.
The Government of India has taken a $1.5 billion loan from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to fund its immediate response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, both in terms of the health and socio-economic impacts. The bank is also in talks with the government to fund further economic stimulus measures, including support for Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) and for extending health services through public-private partnerships.
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The money, translating to more than ₹11,000 crore, will be spent to implement the containment plan and rapidly ramp up test-track-treatment capacity. It will also be used to provide social protection for 80 crore poor people over the next three months, according to Finance Ministry additional secretary Sameer Kumar Khare, who signed the loan agreement.
The loan, approved by the ADB under its COVID-19 Active Response and Expenditure Support (CARES) Programme, is the bank’s largest ever t