Latest News | JICA to Give Rs 2,000 Cr to India for COVID-19 Crisis Response Support
Get latest articles and stories on Latest News at LatestLY. Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has signed an agreement with India to provide an Official Development Assistance (ODA) loan of 30,000 million Japanese Yen (about Rs 2,069 crore) for 'The COVID-19 Crisis Response Support Loan for Social Protection'.
New Delhi, Jan 8 (PTI) Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has signed an agreement with India to provide an Official Development Assistance (ODA) loan of 30,000 million Japanese Yen (about Rs 2,069 crore) for 'The COVID-19 Crisis Response Support Loan for Social Protection'.
The objective of the project is to contain COVID-19 and mitigate adverse socioeconomic impacts in India, JICA said in a statement. This will be done by extending budget support to the government implementing emergency response programmes and policy reforms for social protection as countermeasures against the COVID-19, thereby contributing to promoting the social and economic stabilisation and development efforts of India, it added.
Speaking on the occasion, Katsuo Matsumoto, Chief Representative, JICA India said the outbreak of COVID-19 has adversely affected the underprivileged and vulnerable societies in India. JICA aims to support India in its response to COVID-19 pandemic, by accelerating economic support to the government.
"The project aims at supporting the government in its endeavour of Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana (PMGKY) to empower these disadvantaged groups, whose lives have been hampered with the occurrence of the pandemic. Besides this project, JICA has extended an ODA loan of 'COVID-19 Crisis Response Emergency Support' for strengthen the public healthcare system under the Prime Minister Atmanirbhar Swasth Bharat Yojana (PM-ASBY)," he said.
The release further said the project aims to strengthen the capability of state and national governments in India to provide coordinated and adequate social protection to the poor and vulnerable from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and from its future crisis.
The loan aligns with loans provided by other multilateral and bilateral donor agencies such as World Bank (WB), Asian Development Bank (ADB), Agence Française de Développement (AFD) and Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW). DEA is the executing agency of the project.
JICA aims to contribute to the promotion of international cooperation, as a sole Japanese governmental agency in charge of ODA implementation. It is the world's largest bilateral donor agency.
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)