ADB approves $250m support for Nepal's COVID-19 response

The Asian Development Bank has approved a $250 million concessional loan to help the Government of Nepal fund its response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which includes measures to strengthen the country’s public health systems and mitigate the adverse economic and social impacts of the pandemic, particularly on the poor. 

The financing will support the government in scaling up its testing capacity to at least 3,000 tests per day and establishing quarantine facilities for at least 200,000 people with separate wards for women and men in all seven provinces. Incentives will be provided for medical and other frontline personnel responding to COVID-19.

ADB  will also support the government in extending its social protection program to include distribution of food assistance to the poorest and vulnerable households, provision of employment support to the unemployed poor, especially women, and returning migrant workers. Subsidized lending will be extended to affected micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises, of which at least 30% are women-led, with at least half of them from disadvantaged groups.