ADB releases $1.5bn for flood victims, poor

ISLAMABAD: The Asian Development Bank released $1.5 billion to the State Bank of Pakistan under Building Resilience Under-Active Countercyclical Expenditures (BRACE) Programme on Wednesday.

This $1.5 billion BRACE Programme aims to support the government’s efforts to deal with the adverse impacts of devastating floods, supply chain disruptions, rising energy and fuel prices and inflation-hit poor and vulnerable.

The BRACE Programme will expand the number of families receiving cash transfers through the Benazir Income Support Programme from 7.9 million to 9 million, increase the number of children enrolled in primary and secondary schools, and enhance geographic coverage of health services and nutritional supplies for pregnant and lactating mothers and children under 2 years old.

The BRACE Programme is aligned with the government’s strategy to provide targeted and temporary countercyclical relief measures.

The programme aims to support the deployment of planned countercyclical development expenditure and will promote sound macroeconomic management. The BRACE is also in line with the framework of the ongoing IMF program to implement necessary structural reforms to improve the country’s macroeconomic prospects.