AIIB, ADB to finance USD 2 billion loan for India’s fight against COVID

As India has crossed the milestone of administering one 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 implementing 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.

Besides funding various infra projects in India, the AIIB has also granted USD 1.75 billion to India for the COVID-19 relief budget support. Pandian said India is the second-largest shareholder after China, has so far approved 147 projects amounting to USD 28.9 billion. India has emerged as its biggest beneficiary by obtaining USD 6.7 billion for 28 projects, he told the media in Beijing at its 2021 annual meeting held through video link. The meeting concluded on Friday. AIIB’s latest Asian Infrastructure Finance (AIF) report entitled “Sustaining Global Value Chains,” was also released which points to the need for greater international cooperation to ensure the supply chain infrastructure is greener, more digital and more resilient. The AIIB formally signed a USD 356.67 million loan agreement with Govt of India for the expansion of the Chennai metro rail system. The energy and transport sectors have received the highest amount of financing from the AIIB,