NDB swiftly issues assistance loan to India to help fight COVID-19

The BRICS New Development Bank (NDB) announced on Wednesday it had issued an emergency assistance loan of 1 billion U.S. dollars to India to help the country fight the COVID-19 pandemic.

The loan was approved by the bank on April 30. It aims to support India in its efforts to contain the spread of COVID-19 and to reduce the human, social and economic losses caused by the outbreak.

"The NDB is fully committed to supporting its member countries in the time of calamity," said Zhu Xian, vice president and chief operations officer of the NDB. "The emergency assistance loan to India was swiftly approved in response to the urgent request and immediate financing needs of the Indian government in fighting COVID-19."

The Shanghai-based bank issued an emergency assistance loan of 7 billion yuan (about 1 billion U.S. dollars) to China to fight the COVID-19 outbreak in April.

Established by Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, the NDB formally opened on July 21, 2015 in Shanghai.