Daily Times

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Pakistan’s government have signed an agreement today (Friday) to expand support for Pakistan’s response to the novel coronavirus in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province through the National Disaster Risk Management Fund (NDRMF).

According to a press release issued by the ADB, the Secretary of Pakistan’s Economic Affairs Division Noor Ahmed and ADB’s Country Director for Pakistan Xiaohong Yang signed the agreement.

“After the signing ceremony, Ms. Yang met with Chargé d’affaires of the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Islamabad Sigbjørn Tenfjord to discuss the project,” the statement added.

Under the agreement, the Government of Norway will provide a $5.28 million grant to strengthen the emergency response system in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province amid the COVID-19 crisis.

Under social protection component, an amount of $200 million is allocated for poor and vulnerable. Benazir Income Support Program will utilize this amount for additional cash transfers to BISP beneficiaries and Ehsaas Program.

The BISP will provide additional one-time cash transfer of Rs4,000 to 3.3 million beneficiary women and ongoing UCT instalments of Rs2,000 per month to 2.5 million beneficiary women for the first 4-months of FY2021 to enable them to meet their basis needs. It will also allow BISP to expand the coverage to the next level of poor families likely to be worse off from the socioeconomic impact of COVID-19.

In April, ADB reallocated $30 million from the National Disaster Risk Management Project to support Pakistan’s pandemic response and the NDRMF Board of Directors allocated an additional $20 million from earned interest from the Endowment Fund capitalized under the project.