Illustrative image (Photo: Reuters)
Hanoi (VNA) – The Asian InfrastructureInvestment Bank (AIIB) will allocate a total of 1 billion USD in loans to helpIndonesia in its COVID-19 response.
The first disbursement of the loan will amountto 250 million USD, as part of the co-financing programme with the World Bankand the Islamic Development Bank to provide a total of 750 million USD inloans.
The AIIB is also planning to offer another 750million USD in loans for Indonesia to fund its economic relief and socialsafety net programmes, as part of the co-financing programme with the AsianDevelopment Bank (ADB), which is committed to providing 1.5 billion USD for thecountry.
Indonesia, which saw confirmed cases of COVID-19surge to over 13,000 on May 8, requested the loans to finance its efforts tostrengthen hospital readiness, pandemic response and testing capacity.
The AIIB forecast that the Indonesian economy togrow by less than 1 percent this year before recovering in 2021, compared withits initial projection of 6 percent annual growth for Southeast Asia’s largesteconomy.
Meanwhile, credit rating agency Fitch alsodowngraded Indonesia's GDP growth to 1.3 percent from 2.8 percent this yeardue to slow economic recovery and prolonging lockdown order./.
