ADB to finance $1.2 billion in trade to boost supplies of pandemic products in Asia and the Pacific

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and HSBC have launched a program to support up to $1.2 billion a year in trade by companies in Asia and the Pacific producing goods crucial to the ongoing fight against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.

The targeted financing available through the new program will support trade in multiple sectors affected by the pandemic, including pharmaceuticals and apparel as well as critical medical supplies that might not otherwise be available. It will provide much-needed support for small- and medium-sized companies in the region.

“Partnerships, like this one with HSBC, are critical to closing market gaps, ensuring that we fuel growth necessary to build back the global economy, and creating jobs and prosperity,” said ADB Trade and Supply Chain Finance Program Head Steven Beck. “This partnership will complement ADB’s own ground-breaking efforts to map the supply chain for products critical to the fight against COVID-19, and to support trade flows that will drive the recovery.”

ADB has boosted its capacity to support trade and supply chains with more money and flexibility for its $2.4 billion Trade and Supply Chain Finance Program. Trade finance deals and partnerships will help to bridge the trade finance gap and enable ADB members to counter the severe health and macroeconomic impacts caused by COVID-19.

Original source: ADB
Published on 29 July 2020