The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has received $500 million from the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). The latest disbursement brings the total amount received from multilateral institutions this week to around $1.725 billion.

The country central bank on Wednesday informed that it has received $1 billion, from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and World Bank (WB). SBP in a tweet said that the country has received $500 million each from ADB and WB.

The funds come days after Pakistan inked financing agreements worth $1.5bn with three international financial institutions, the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, and Asian Infrastructure Development Bank.

The funds will be used for Coronavirus Active Response and Expenditure Support Program with the objective to support the government of Pakistan’s efforts to strengthen the health system and mitigate the socioeconomic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The amount will also be utilized to strengthen the Civil Registration & Vital Statistics, health, and education systems essential for Human Capital (HC) accumulation, recognize and support the contribution of women to economic productivity and improve the efficiency of the national safety nets.

Earlier, the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the SBP, in its emergent meeting held on Thursday, decided to further cut the key policy rate by 100 basis points (bps) to 7 percent aimed to address the domestic economic slowdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic.