The OPEC Fund for International Development or the OPEC Fund has provided a $70 million loan to Bangladesh to help fight the ongoing coronavirus crisis.
The loan to Bangladesh will help provide social safety net programmes for the poor, day labourers and informal workers, as well as healthcare staff, the OPEC Fund said in a statement on Monday.
The loan will also contribute to economic packages to protect Bangladesh’s export industry.
Measures include zero-cost credit to support factory worker salaries and low-interest loans to factories and small- and medium-sized enterprises.
Furthermore, around 600,000 tonnes of rice and wheat will be distributed to low-income households.
Besides Bangladesh, the organisation has extended loans to support COVID-19 response efforts in Benin, Dominica and Guyana.
The loans, totalling $115 million, form part of the OPEC Fund’s $1 billion commitment to collective and coordinated COVID-19-related assistance for developing countries.
The OPEC Fund is the development finance institution established by the member states of OPEC in 1976 as a channel of aid to developing countries.
