ADB approves $500 million loan to Uzbekistan

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a $500 million loan for food safety, social protection for vulnerable groups, and employment support in Uzbekistan.

It is noted that the ADB's Building Resilience through Active Countercyclical Costs (BRACE) programme will provide $1.2 billion in financing to the government of Uzbekistan. The government programme aims to strengthen food safety and price stability, support low-income families, the elderly and other vulnerable groups, as well as the unemployed and returning migrant workers.

The BRACE programme will support government measures to ensure an adequate food supply at stable prices, such as imports of wheat and exemption of staple foods from value-added tax and customs duties. It will also help the government maintain social assistance payments to more than 8.9 million vulnerable people until December 2022.

ADB will also administer technical assistance for monitoring and evaluation support financed through a $400,000 grant from the Technical Assistance Special Fund.