BAKU, Azerbaijan, Jun. 8
By Nargiz Sadikhova - Trend:
Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) may co-finance the COVID-19 Active Response and Expenditure Support (CARES) Program project in Kazakhstan, AIIB representative told Trend.
The official said that currently AIIB has one approved project and one proposed project in Kazakhstan.
The proposed project, i.e. COVID-19 Active Response and Expenditure Support (CARES) Program is proposed to be supported by a loan extended by AIIB under AIIB’s COVID-19 Crisis Recovery Facility and co-financed with a policy-based loan extended by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) under its Countercyclical Support Facility COVID-19 Pandemic Response Option (CPRO).
"The Program would cover the Kazakhstan’s government’s immediate COVID-19 health policy response, social protection and employment recovery measures, and overall stimulus measures," the official said.
Thus, the program includes: cash payments to the unemployed ($95 per month per person); mitigations to higher food price impacts such as, a lower VAT rate, nationwide food supply program to provide free food to 1.1 million people, price caps for essential foods and procurement of 41,600 tons of essential foods to support vulnerable groups; Increase of all social payments (pensions, benefits, etc.) by 10 percent; new tax incentives such as, zero percent property tax rates (for retail, trade, catering, entertainment and hospitality sectors), land tax (for agricultural producers), income tax for individual entrepreneurs and for SMEs in catering, lodging, transportation, consulting and tourism sectors, six-month exemption from payroll taxes.
The official also noted that the objective of the proposed program is to mitigate the adverse impacts of the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) on the health, income, and economic opportunities of Kazakhstan population. The proposed funding value is $750 million.
The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) is a multilateral development bank with a mission to improve social and economic outcomes in Asia.
Headquartered in Beijing, AIIB began operations in January 2016 and have now grown to 102 approved members worldwide.
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