The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a US$250 million loan to help finance the Government of Papua New Guinea’s (PNG) response to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.
 
PNG declared a state of emergency on 21 March and the subsequent public health emergency, closure of its borders, lockdowns, and other response measures have put pressure on the country’s health system and economy. Among ADB’s Pacific developing members, only PNG is currently affected by community transmission of the pandemic.
 
“COVID-19 has had a devastating health, social, and economic impact on PNG,” said ADB President Masatsugu Asakawa. “ADB is committed to supporting the government in responding to this pandemic. These funds will help in containing the health and economic impact of the pandemic by strengthening the country’s health sector and providing much-needed budgetary support for revitalising the economy.”
 
ADB’s programme will help the government finance and implement its US$769 million pandemic response plan that includes an economic stimulus package. The program will help strengthen PNG’s health system by building temporary isolation facilities for COVID-19 patients, training frontline health workers, rapidly procuring test kits and personal protective equipment, and improving the water supply for communities, schools, and clinics. The programme will provide social assistance and food security to vulnerable groups, particularly those affected by income and job losses. Some 5,000 people in Port Moresby will receive food rations, delivered through local churches. The program will provide assistance to small businesses and rural producers, including subsidised lending, loans for women-owned businesses, price support for farmers, support to purchase seedlings for 10,000 smallholder farmers and poor rural households, and hygiene improvements in local markets to allow trading to continue.
 
The programme will also focus on gender equality by ensuring women are not disproportionately affected by the pandemic. That includes measures to protect women’s health, including ring-fencing of funding for maternal health care services. More support will also be provided for gender-based violence services to protect the most vulnerable women.
 
The programme is funded through the COVID-19 pandemic response option (CPRO) under ADB’s Countercyclical Support Facility. CPRO was established as part of ADB’s US$20 billion expanded assistance for developing members to respond to COVID-19, which was announced on 13 April. ADB also provided a US$1.5 million grant from its Asia Pacific Disaster Response Fund to PNG in July to help mitigate the impacts of the pandemic.

SOURCE: ADB/PACNEWS

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