The government on Monday sought $100 million in assistance from the World Bank (WB) as immediate support to help cope with the health and economic impacts of the coronavirus pandemic.
On March 3, the World Bank Group announced up to $12 billion immediate support for economies affected by the Covid-19 outbreak, which started from China’s Wuhan city in late December last year.
“We have received a letter from the Health Ministry seeking $100 million fund from the World Bank for combating the health related and economic fallout from the coronavirus outbreak. We sent the request to the World Bank,” Economic Relations Division Additional Secretary Md Shahabuddin Patwary told Dhaka Tribune on Monday.
“We will request the World Bank to sanction the fund as grant,” he added.
Mercy Tembon, the global lender’s country director for Bangladesh and Bhutan, said the World Bank Group has made available an initial package of up to $12 billion in immediate support to assist countries coping with the health and economic impacts of the global pandemic.
In Bangladesh, the World Bank has received a request from the Finance Ministry for $100 million financing and they will work with the government to process the request, she added.
According to a report of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), a 2% reduction in the Chinese supply of intermediate inputs due to coronavirus would lead to a loss of $17 million in Bangladesh's exports.
So far, Bangladesh has detected eight people infected with Covid-19, most of whom returned home from abroad recently. Three of them, however, have made full recovery, according to the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR).
More than 2,000 people are also in isolation at different hospitals in eight divisions of the country.
The new coronavirus strain has so far infected more than 174,600 people and killed over 6,600 people in 162 countries and territories, according to worldometer.
