AIIB approves $750m loan to India for COVID-19 response

The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank has approved a $750 million loan to India to help the government in its response to the adverse impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Co-financed with the Asian Development Bank, the budgetary support will go toward bolstering economic aid for businesses, including for the informal sector, expanding social safety nets for the needy, and strengthening the country’s health care systems. India is extremely vulnerable to the pandemic given that around 270 million people continue to live below the national poverty line and around 81 million live in densely populated informal settlements with limited access to health services, according to the World Bank.