Japan on Monday announced to extend its support to India’s fight against covid-19 pandemic. The country said that it will be providing an emergency support loan of up to 50 billion yen(almost 3,500 crore) to back India’s response to the covid crisis that include implementation of health and medical policies as well as development of hospitals equipped with ICUs.
Additional Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs of Finance Ministry, CS Mohapatra and Japanese ambassador Suzuki Satoshi exchanged the notes regarding the provision of the loan to New Delhi to contain the spread of virus.
A statemented issued by the Japanese embassy said that this “COVID-19 crisis response emergency support loan” will back India’s measures against the virus, including health sector reforms.
“This loan provides the necessary funds for emergency response in the fight against Covid-19 in India,” it said.
It is expected that this financial support will help in enhancing the implementation of health and medical policy by the Government of India. The support comes at a time when the nation is going through the worst economic crisis due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The “Covid-19 crisis response emergency support loan” will back the “implementation of health and medical policy by the government of India, and will lead to the development of hospitals equipped with ICUs and infection prevention and management facilities, which are undersupplied in India”, the statement said.
As far as the terms and conditions of the loan are concerned, it will include an interest rate of 0.01 percent per annum and a redemption period of 15 years, including a four-year grace period.
Both the countries also exchanged notes on a grant worth 1 billion yen to India which will come through Japan’s Official Development Assistance (ODA) scheme, called, “The Economic and Social Development Programme”.
Meanwhile, in a separate development, the Japanese embassy and consulates and Japan External Trade Organisation updated the list of Japanese companies operating business in India.
