The African Development Bank (AfDB) on April 8 announced a Covid-19 response facility worth $10-billion to assist regional member countries in fighting the pandemic.
The facility is the latest measure taken by the bank to respond to the global crisis and will be the primary channel for the bank’s efforts to address the crisis.
The facility entails $5.5-billion for sovereign operations in AfDB countries and $3.1-billion for sovereign and regional operations for countries under the African Development Fund – the bank’s concessional arm that caters to fragile countries.
An additional $1.35-billion will be dedicated to help private sector operations.
“Africa is facing enormous fiscal challenges to respond to the coronavirus effectively. The AfDB is deploying its full weight of emergency response support to assist Africa at this critical time,” says AfDB president Akinwumi Adesina.
The response facility follows a record-breaking $3-billion Fight Covid-19 Social Bond that the bank created late in March. The bond is the world’s largest dollar-denominated social bond ever on the international capital market.
AfDB also earlier in April approved a $2-million grant for the World Health Organisation for its efforts on the continent.