World Bank's $1 Billion Emergency Funds To India

The World Bank on Thursday approved $1 billion emergency finance for India to fight against the Coronavirus. To date, the virus has killed 53 people and infected over 2000 in the country. “The World Bank's first set of aid projects costing $1.9 billion assists 25 countries and new operations are happening in over 40 countries using the fast-track process,” the bank said.

As India’s population is huge, the largest amount has been given to it. This $1 billion will be used to support better screening, contact tracing, and laboratory diagnostics, procuring personal protective equipment and setting up new isolation wards, etc. The Board of Executive Directors approved the first set of emergency support operations for developing countries using a fast-track facility for COVID-19 response.

$200 million for Pakistan, $100 million for Afghanistan, $7.3 million for the Maldives, and $128.6 million for Sri Lanka were approved by the World Bank. The World Bank also said that it is currently working to fund up to $160 billion over the next 15 months to support immediate health consequences.

“The World Bank Group is taking broad, fast action to reduce the spread of COVID-19 and we already have health response operations moving forward in over 65 countries," said World Bank Group President David Malpass. “We are working to strengthen the developing nations. We focus on country-level and regional solutions to address the ongoing crisis,” he added.