World Bank signs financing accord worth $200 million

The World Bank (WB) on Friday signed the financing agreement worth $200 million with Pakistan for the COVID-19 pandemic response. Dr Syed Pervaiz Abbas, federal secretary of the Economic Affairs Division signed the financing agreement on behalf of the Government of Pakistan, while provincial project agreements were signed by the designated officers of the provincial governments.
Patchamuthu Illangovan, country director signed the agreements on behalf of the World Bank. The development objective of the project is to support the government to prepare and respond to the COVID-19 pandemic in Pakistan and strengthen national systems for public health preparedness.
The project will primarily focus health sector operations to help address the critical country-level needs to prevent, detect and respond to the threat posed by the COVID-19.
The scope of this project will be nationwide, covering all provinces/territories of the country. The primary project beneficiaries will be infected people, at-risk populations, medical and emergency personnel as well as service providers at medical and testing facilities (both public and private), and national and provincial departments of health.
Staff of key technical departments and provincial health departments will also benefit from the project as their capabilities increase through the strengthened institutional capacity.
The primary target groups for the support to mitigate socioeconomic impacts are expected to be: (i) affected households with high vulnerability to shocks, particularly the poorest and most vulnerable who tend to have limited assets and other mechanisms to protect themselves from shocks (bottom 20 of the distribution); and (ii) households who are affected due to mobility restrictions such as quarantines that disrupt their ability to meet basic needs. Households may benefit from multiple interventions under the proposed project which, inter-alia, includes (i) emergency cash transfers to up to four million families enrolled in the safety programme across the country; (ii) emergency food supply for quarantined populations; and (iii) children's learning activities by ensuring remote learning sessions through broadcast - to minimise the COVID-19 emergency effects on children's and youth learning.
Azhar thanked the World Bank for extending its support to the Government of Pakistan for carrying out national drive against the COVID-19 pandemic emergency.
While focusing on the COVID-19 preparedness and emergency response in the health sector, the Pandemic Response Effectiveness Project (PREP) will also help the poor and vulnerable cope with the immediate impact of the pandemic through social protection measures, food rations, and remote learning education.
"The World Bank is ramping up its support to Pakistan and its people to fight the spread of COVID-19 in the country," said Illango Patchamuthu, World Bank, country director for Pakistan.
"PREP will help strengthen the country's capacity to detect and monitor the disease. In addition, it will also make available resources to support cash transfer through existing arrangements to the poor and vulnerable. We will continue to partner with federal and provincial governments to ensure effective implementation during these testing times."