WASHINGTON: The World Bank expects to support 50 poorest nations with $4 billion of financing by the middle of this year to fund the purchase and distribution of Covid-19 vaccines and strengthen their healthcare systems. The Washington-based multilateral lender has approved $2bn in financing for 17 countries, it said in a statement on Wednesday. Funding packages to developing countries, reeling from the economic shock of the pandemic, are being disbursed on “grant or highly concessional terms”. Finances of debt-laden poor nations are already stretched, leaving them little room to rebuild their economies or strengthen their crumbling healthcare systems. Both the IMF and the World Bank have extended concessional loans and grants to these countries to help them deal with the pandemic.

Source: Pakistan Today April 21, 2021 14:48 UTC