IBRD offering €73.1 mln in emergency COVID-19 response funds to Georgia
The project aims to help the government’s efforts to mitigate and address the health and social impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Photo: Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge.
Tweet 
Share
The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), the lending arm of the World Bank Group, has approved €73.1 million under the 'Emergency COVID-19 Response Project' for Georgia.
The Healthcare and Social Issues Committee of Georgia supported the bill on the loan agreement today. Following the loan agreement the maturity of the loan will be 26 years and the grace period will be 13 years.
The project will be developed by the Ministry of Health of Georgia and aims to help the government’s efforts to mitigate and address the health and social impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Accordingly €29 million will be spent on healthcare, on measures against the spread of the coronavirus, as well as the costs associated with treating infected individuals and, if necessary, equipment needed for healthcare infrastructure.
Meanwhile, €44 million will be allocated for social assistance.
Deputy Financial Minister Giorgi Kakauridze said that this amount of money is not enough to meet all the challenges caused by the coronavirus, but he announced that another loan agreement will be signed this week with the Asian Development Bank that will provide an additional €100 million.
UNDP Head in Georgia Louisa Vinton says Georgia’s response to the pandemic has undoubtedly saved lives and it will be studied in the future as a best practice. "But here, as everywhere in the world, COVID-19 has also exposed social vulnerabilities and economic imbalances. The UNDP therefore welcomes the resolve of Georgia’s leaders to go beyond ‘business as usual’ to design a recovery plan that builds on the positives and neutralizes the negatives to map out a path to a green, fair and inclusive future”, said Vinton.
The European Union and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) have launched a GEL 9 million grant programme together with the Georgian Agriculture and Rural Development Agency (ARDA) to help Georgia’s rural regions respond to the economic and social challenges amid the coronavirus crisis.
The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is providing an additional $3 million in assistance to the Georgian healthcare system in response to COVID-19.The US Ambassador to Georgia, Kelly Degnan, said that the CDC has been supporting Georgia to prepare for and response to the pandemic since January.
Georgia will receive €150 million in macro-financial assistance from the European Council to help the country ‘cope with the economic fallout’ of the COVID-19 pandemic. Georgia is among the ten enlargement and neighbourhood partners of the European Union which will receive the assistance ‘in the form of loans on highly favourable terms’.
The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) is offering €91,340,000 to help Georgia prevent and respond to threats caused by the coronavirus pandemic, announces the Finance Ministry of Georgia. The loan agreement was signed today under the 'Emergency COVID-19 Response Project' for Georgia.
The French Development Agency will allocate €190 million to Georgia to contain the spread of the coronavirus and support energy reforms in the country, announces the Finance Ministry of Georgia. Georgian Ministry of Finance and French Development Agency signed the agreement today.
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a $100 million loan to help Georgia contain the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, mitigate the impact on businesses, and protect the livelihoods of the most vulnerable, including women and children.
Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a €400,000 (about $451,996) loan for Georgia to purchase polymerase chain reaction (PCR) equipment and tests, which is the ‘gold standard’ in testing for the coronavirus.
The World Bank is allocating €45 mln to help Georgia mitigate the economic impact of the coronavirus and to support the Georgian government cover unanticipated financial gaps in the budget that have arisen due to the pandemic.
The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) has approved a loan of €45 million to Georgia to mitigate the negative economic and social impacts of Covid-19 and sustain the momentum of pre-pandemic reforms that support economic growth and resilience, announces the AIIB.
Georgia’s healthcare system spent over 200 million GEL (about $60.2 million) on its Covid-19 response in 2020, reports local media outlet Interpressnews (IPN).
Georgian Health Minister Zurab Azarashvili on Thursday discussed the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, efforts for its prevention and future plans of his office at a United Nations General Assembly meeting on Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response in New York.