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ADB triples COVID-19 response package to $20bn

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) tripled the size of its response to the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic to $20 billion and approved measures to streamline its operations for quicker and more flexible delivery of assistance.
The package expands ADB’s $6.5 billion initial response announced on 18 March, adding $13.5 billion in resources to help ADB’s developing member countries counter the severe macroeconomic and health impacts caused by COVID-19. The $20 billion package includes about $2.5 billion in concessional and grant resources.

“This pandemic threatens to severely set back economic, social, and development gains in Asia and the Pacific, reverse progress on poverty reduction, and throw economies into recession,” said ADB President Masatsugu Asakawa. “Our expanded and comprehensive package of assistance, made possible with the strong support of our Board, will be delivered more quickly, flexibly, and forcefully to the governments and the private sector in our developing member countries to help them address the urgent challenges in tackling the pandemic and economic downturn.”

ADB’s most recent assessment, released on 3 April, estimates the global impact of the pandemic at between 2.3% and 4.8% of gross domestic product. Regional growth is forecast to decline from 5.2% last year to 2.2% in 2020.

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