BAKU, Azerbaijan, Apr. 24
By Ilkin Seyfaddini - Trend:
Uzbekistan will borrow $3.1 billion from international financial institutions to reduce the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, Trend reports citing the Uzbek media.
The corresponding decree was signed by Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev on April 22, 2020.
To counteract the consequences of the coronavirus pandemic, Uzbekistan intends to raise US $3.1 billion in funding: $277.5 million to strengthen the health system, $700 million to support businesses and $300 million to help utilities and energy companies. The state budget of Uzbekistan will receive $1.8 billion.
The document approved a road map for attracting grants and concessional long-term financing to counteract the negative consequences of the pandemic.
The list of financial institutions Uzbekistan plans to attract includes the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, Islamic Development Bank, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.
Earlier, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economic Development and Poverty Reduction Jamshid Kuchkarov said that Uzbekistan will borrow $1.6 billion from development banks during the coronavirus pandemic.
In March, Uzbekistan's President Shavkat Mirziyoyev ordered the Finance Ministry to create an Anti-Crisis Fund for 10 trillion soum ($983.6 million) to prevent the spread of coronavirus and mitigate its impact on the country's economy.
The outbreak of the coronavirus began in the Chinese city of Wuhan (an international transport hub), at a fish market in late December 2019.
The World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a pandemic on March 11. Some sources claim the coronavirus outbreak started as early as November 2019.
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