AIIB approves 100-mln-USD loan for Uzbekistan's COVID-19 fight

The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) has approved a 100-million-US-dollar loan to Uzbekistan to strengthen the country's public health emergency response and help overcome the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, AIIB said Tuesday.

Co-financed with the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the project aims to improve Uzbekistan's capacity for surveillance, diagnostic testing, and treatment of COVID-19 and future disease outbreaks, it said in a statement.

"Addressing emergency healthcare needs to combat COVID-19 and prevent its spread is the immediate priority. The financing will support Uzbekistan's response to the current pandemic and capacity building to effectively manage future outbreaks," AIIB Director General Supee Teravaninthorn said in the statement.

The project is funded by the AIIB Crisis Recovery Facility (CRF), which provides up to 13 billion dollars of financing to both public and private-sector entities in member countries facing adverse impacts caused by the pandemic.

Earlier this year, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) approved a 500-million-U.S.-dollar budget support loan to support Uzbekistan's response to COVID-19, while the International Monetary Fund disbursed a loan of 375 million dollars under its Rapid Credit Facility scheme.

So far, Uzbekistan has registered 36,100 confirmed COVID-19 cases, with 240 deaths and 31,580 recoveries.