BANGKOK, Nov 16 (TNA) – The Finance Ministry borrows US$1.5 billion from the Asian Development Bank to solve economic problems resulting from the coronavirus disease 2019.
Finance Minister Arkhom Termpitayapaisith and Hideaki Iwasaki, country director for the Thailand Resident Mission of ADB, signed the contract of the COVID-19 Active Response and Expenditure Support Program worth US$1.5 billion.
The borrowing is a part of the imposition of an executive decree empowering the Finance Ministry to seek loans to solve economic and social problems resulting from COVID-19. ADB is providing member states with soft loans to help them recover from the impacts of the pandemic.
In the past fiscal year, the Finance Ministry used many tools to raise funds from local sources to implement plans and projects to handle COVID-related problems. The ministry is duty-bound to seek loans for the implementation and efficiently manage their costs and risks. (TNA)
