ADB to reallocate funds to help Kazakhstan battle coronavirus

By Trend

Asian Development Bank (ADB) is committed to supporting Kazakhstan in its fight against COVID-19 and to helping limit the impact of the pandemic on its citizens, ADB President Masatsugu Asakawa said, Trend reports with reference to ADB.

Asakawa made the statement during a meeting with Kazakhstan’s Minister of National Economy Ruslan Dalenov on Mar. 25 during which parties discussed how ADB can support Kazakhstan in its fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

During the meeting Asakawa commended the government for its measures to combat the pandemic, including its emergency response and the articulated package of extraordinary policy measures introduced by local authorities from Mar. 10, 2020.

“ADB is committed to supporting Kazakhstan in its fight against COVID-19 and to helping limit the impact of the pandemic on its citizens. ADB’s assistance can include budget support, health sector support, and technical assistance to help maintain social cohesion and retrain the labor force toward sectors likely to emerge in the post-COVID-19 economy. ADB is also keen to revisit its portfolio and reallocate funds to better fit the government’s priority needs,” ADB president said

As noted during the meeting, in addition to the health and socioeconomic impacts of COVID-19, a significant drop in oil prices is compounding the situation in Kazakhstan, with implications for the country’s economic activity, including trade and jobs.

Dalenov said Kazakhstan seeks ADB support to quickly source medical equipment, maintain employment levels, and diversify the economy to lessen dependence on commodities and promote sectors such as agriculture, information technology, and e-commerce.

By a decision of State Commission on Provision of Emergency State under the president of Kazakhstan, quarantine regime has been introduced in Kazakhstan’s Nur-Sultan and Almaty cities at 00:00 (GMT +6) on March 19, 2020, due to the coronavirus outbreak.

On March 15, 2020, Kazakhstan’s President Kassym Jomart Tokayev signed a decree introducing an emergency state in Kazakhstan due to coronavirus outbreak, which came in force from 08:00 (GMT +6) on March 16 and will last till 08:00 on April 15, 2020.

First two cases of coronavirus infection were detected in Kazakhstan among those who arrived in Almaty city from Germany on March 13, 2020. The latest data said that the overall number of coronavirus cases in Kazakhstan is 80 people.

The outbreak in the Chinese city of Wuhan - which is an international transport hub - began at a fish market in late December 2019.

As of today, over 428,400 people have been confirmed as infected. The number of people killed by the disease has surpassed 19,100. Meanwhile, over 109,900 people have reportedly recovered.

Several countries are working on a vaccine against the new virus.

The World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a pandemic on March 11.