Africa’s development bank approves loans, grants to fight coronavirus

The lender will provide $97.7 million for Rwanda’s budget to help the nation strengthen its health-care system, buttress economic resilience and mitigate the pandemic’s impact on the most vulnerable people.

The African Development Bank approved loans and grants for several nations to ward off the Covid-19 pandemic as infections multiplied across the continent.

People affected by the coronavirus economic downturn line up to receive food parcels in Pretoria, South Africa. (AP)

The lender will provide $97.7 million for Rwanda’s budget to help the nation strengthen its health-care system, buttress economic resilience and mitigate the pandemic’s impact on the most vulnerable people. Under the worst-case scenario, Rwanda’s gross domestic product could contract 2% this year, the AfDB said in an emailed statement.

The bank will also extend $41.2 million to Djibouti, which includes a $4.1 million loan under its Covid-19 response facility. Djibouti, with one of the highest infection rates in the Horn of Africa, could see its economy shrink 3.8% this year.

AfDB directors also agreed on $53.3 million in grants for Gambia, Liberia and Sierra Leone from the $10 billion Covid-19 Response Facility, its main channel for cushioning African nations from the economic and health impact of the crisis.

Ghana, which ranks fourth in the number of infections on the continent, will receive $69 million in grants to upgrade isolation facilities, purchase more test kits, drugs, equipment and beds, the AfDB said.