Pakistan and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Tuesday have signed a $2 million grant agreement for the COVID-19 Emergency Response.

The agreement was signed here in Islamabad on Tuesday. The grant will be used to build the resilience and the capacity of frontline health workers in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

Speaking on the occasion, Country Director Asian Development Bank Xiaohong Yang reaffirmed support for the government's development vision and people-centric growth policies.

“ADB continues to work closely with the Government of Pakistan and development partners to assist Pakistan in sustaining the gains made in combating the pandemic” said ADB Country Director for Pakistan Xiaohong Yang.

“The grant to be administered through UNICEF will help strengthen Pakistan’s response to the COVID-19 challenge," he added.

Back in September, the ADB in an update of its Asian Development Outlook (ADO) 2020 report has forecasted broad economic recovery for Pakistan in FY2021, with GDP growth estimated to rebound to 2.0 percent.

The projected GDP growth is lower than forecast in ADO 2020. As per the latest forecast, the ADB assumes that the COVID-19 impact will subside by the end of 2020—the end of the second quarter of FY2021—allowing global conditions to normalize and economic sentiment to improve.

The report also assumes the resumption of structural reform under an ongoing IMF Extended Fund Facility program to address macroeconomic imbalances. The government has proposed detailed economic stimulation measures in its FY2021 budget. In addition to reallocating Rs7 billion from the Federal Public Sector Development Programme budget to COVID-19 response, the proposed budget raises allocations for initiatives that provide social protection to the disadvantaged.