The African Development Bank has approved a €188 million euro loan to the Republic of Mauritius to finance a national budget support programme to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Group’s Board of Directors said Friday.
The main aim of the Covid-19 Rapid Response Facility (CRF), established by the Mauritian Government, is to support the national response fighting the ongoing outbreak, and to mitigate the adverse economic and social effects of the disease. The response is based on three pillars: to consolidate health systems; to protect livelihoods, income security and access to essential goods and services; and to build a resilient private sector as a prelude to the recovery of the economy.
Similarly, the Board of Directors of the AfDB has approved an €188 million loan to support the Government of Kenya’s efforts to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic and mitigate the related economic, health and social impacts.
The loan will extend additional resources to Kenya as the country takes steps to contain the spread of the pandemic and deal with its unprecedented impact. It follows a request by the Government of Kenya, as part of its COVID-19 Emergency Response intervention, to help contain the scourge.
Mauritius reported its first three cases of COVID-19 on 18 March 2020. On 6 April 2020, the number of locally-transmitted cases had reached 133 (54.5% of all reported cases), before reaching 332 cases by the end of April. The figure has not risen since then.
The CRF aims to bolster preparedness and support for vulnerable groups and the informal sector, while also funding social protection schemes, reducing job losses, and strengthening the resilience of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs).
While the most vulnerable will be the main beneficiaries of this programme, it will also cover workers in the informal sector, people facing layoffs as well as other vulnerable groups.
The AfDB support will strengthen Kenya’s national health system to effectively respond to the pandemic, build economic resilience and ensure quick recovery. The Bank’s intervention will also be used to support the poor and vulnerable people who have been negatively affected by the pandemic.
“We are very pleased to join other development partners in supporting the Government of Kenya’s efforts in mitigating the financial impact of the pandemic, especially in terms of the country’s expenditure in the health, social and economic sectors. The next step will focus on helping build resilience for post COVID-19,” the Bank’s Acting Director General for East Africa, Nnenna Nwabufo, noted.
Since Kenya’s first COVID-19 infection was confirmed on 12 March 2020, cases have risen to over 1,000, while the number of recoveries and deaths are 375 and 50, respectively, as of 22 May 2020. The pandemic is placing significant pressure on an already stretched healthcare system. It has disrupted supply chains and caused job losses in the tourism, hospitality, horticulture and airline industries, among others.
In addition, informal and self-employed workers have also lost their livelihoods due to the impact of the pandemic.
The government’s response to the pandemic has been swift and multi-faceted, covering a range of measures including health-related containment measures, protection of the poor and vulnerable, provision of support to local businesses and to sustaining jobs. The Bank’s intervention, through the COVID-19 Emergency Response Support Program, is designed to support these measures.
As a result of demand and supply shocks, Kenya’s real GDP growth is projected to fall to between 0.6 and 1.4 percent from the initial 2020 projection of 6 percent.
In April, the Bank extended an emergency grant to help countries in the East and Horn of Africa, including Kenya, that are contending with swarms of locusts that are threatening food security. Kenya is facing its worst swarms in 70 years. In Ethiopia and Somalia, the outbreak is the worst in 25 years.
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