Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, March 25) — The Philippines is the first beneficiary of a China-based lender’s vaccine financing initiative.
The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) announced on Thursday the launch of its vaccine financing project COVID-19 Crisis Recovery Facility, which will help member-countries on their vaccine procurement and rollout.
Coinciding with the launch, the AIIB announced the Philippines as the first country that will benefit from the initiative. The country will receive around $300-million (over ₱14.5-billion) worth of loan to aid its vaccine procurement.
“The project aligns with AIIB’s commitment to support its members in responding to the COVID-19 crisis. It constitutes a critical element of the Philippines’ public health response to the COVID-19 pandemic by providing timely access to eligible vaccines that would help accelerate economic and social recovery in the country,” said D.J. Pandian, AIIB vice president for investment operations.
The AIIB loan to the Philippines, co-financed with the Asian Development Bank (ADB), supports the country’s Second Health System Enhancement to Address and Limit COVID-19 under the ADB’s Asia Pacific Vaccine Access Facility.
The loan is expected to support the Philippine government’s COVID-19 vaccine procurement for around 50 million people, or 43.8% of the total population.
The latest $300-million loan is the second granted by AIIB to the Philippines, after the $750-million (over ₱36.4-billion) loan it provided to the country in April last year. The total support given by the China-based lender to the Philippines is now at $1.05-billion (over ₱50.9-billion).
The Philippines recently secured $900 million (about ₱43.67 billion) in fresh funding from the World Bank and ADB for its purchase of COVID-19 vaccines, and measures to respond to the health crisis. The country is also the first beneficiary of ADB’s Asia Pacific Vaccine Access Facility.
The Philippine government hopes to vaccinate up to 70 million Filipinos or two-thirds of the population this year.
