Romania activates EUR 400 mln loan from World Bank to combat human & economic impacts of Covid-19

The Romanian government has activated EUR 400 million of pre-arranged financial support from the World Bank to help prevent and respond to the new coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.

The financing covers a range of interventions to strengthen health services, minimize the losses to both the public and private sectors, and to safeguard lives and livelihoods overall, the World Bank announced.

Romania was able to benefit from a pre-arranged loan which has a Catastrophe Deferred Drawdown Option (CAT-DDO) facility that the Government negotiated with the World Bank in June 2018. The objective of this program is to strengthen Romania’s institutional and legal framework to effectively manage the physical, social and fiscal impacts of health emergencies, natural disasters and climate change. As well as supporting the government with critical policy reforms to build resilience, this facility enables the government to access financing within 48 hours in response to a natural disaster or health emergency, the World Bank said in the press release.

The World Bank Romania Country Office is also working to restructure the existing portfolio, especially in the health sector, to use part of its undisbursed balance to finance crisis-related equipment purchases, as well as in crisis-affected areas beyond the health sector. This includes providing advice on the likely economic impacts of the developing crisis.

The World Bank said it is rolling out a USD 14 billion fast-track package to strengthen the Covid-19 response in developing countries and shorten the time to recovery. The immediate response includes financing, policy advice and technical assistance to help countries cope with the health and economic impacts of the pandemic.

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