AIIB and ADB to co-finance USD 2 billion loan for India’s fight against COVID-19
As India has crossed the milestone of administering 1 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines, it is leveraging its membership of multilateral financing institutions to boost the immunization rate of the country’s eligible population.
Beijing-based multilateral development bank Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and the Asian Development (ADB) will co-finance a USD 2 billion loan for India to procure COVID-19 vaccines under ADB’s Asia Pacific Vaccine Access Facility (APVAX). AIIB’s Vice President Dr. D.J. Pandian said in Beijing that AIIB is considering providing USD 500 million and the Manila-based ADB is expected to finance USD 1.5 billion.
The loan is under consideration from the AIIB board, he said, adding that India has applied for it three months ago. About 667 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines were expected to be procured through the loan, according to project details mentioned on the Bank website.
He said the vaccines will be purchased by the Government of India through a competitive process and the ADB will be administering the purchasing system and implement it under ADB’s APVAX, or Asia-Pacific Vaccine Access Facility, mechanism. India already produces Covishield and Covaxin and has recently crossed an inoculation milestone of administering 100 crore Covid-19 vaccine doses to its citizens against the SARS CoV-2 virus.
