The African Development Bank on Wednesday approved a $288 million (R5 billion) loan to South Africa to help fight coronavirus and ease the economic fallout caused by the pandemic.
With over 380,000 cases and at least 5,368 fatalities recorded to date, South Africa is seen to be strongly affected by the virus as it leads the top chat in Africa. In the world, it is among the top five countries with confirmed cases.
“The board of directors of the African Development Bank (AfDB) has approved a loan of approximately R5 billion ($288 million) to the government of South Africa, as the country battles one of the largest COVID-19 caseloads in the world,” the AfDB said this in a statement on Wednesday.
The loan was prepared after the government of South Africa requested for it.
It is also AfDB’s first budget support to the country.
