Press briefing of Cabinet Decision taken on 2021-06-28

Obtaining Financial Assistance from the Asian Development Bank for 'Responsive COVID-19 Vaccines for Recovery Project' (RECOVER)

- The Government of Sri Lanka has planned to obtain a loan of US$ 150 million from the Asian Development Bank to implement the 'Responsive COVID-19 Vaccines for Recovery' (RECOVER) Project. Of the said sum, it is expected to obtain US$ 84 million under the Asia Pacific Vaccine Access Facility (APVAX) and the balance of US$ 66 million under the regular country allocation of the Ordinary Capital Resources of the Asian Development Bank. The total cost of the project is US$ 161.85 million and US$ 11.85 million will be incurred by the Government of Sri Lanka. It has been planned to use the said loan for some other associated activities including meeting the cost of vaccines, establishing vaccine related monitoring systems, providing cold chain related transport facilities and strengthening the medical waste management. Accordingly, the proposal made by the Hon. Prime Minister in his capacity as the Minister of Finance to pursue future action to obtain the said loan, was approved by the Cabinet.