MONROVIA, Montserrado – Last week Friday, the African Development Bank’s Board of Directors approved a US$53.25 million multi-country grant to The Gambia, Liberia, and Sierra Leone in the form of direct budget support to cushion efforts to fight the COVID-19 pandemic in the three West African countries.

The three countries will receive the grant from the African Development Bank in order to support their national budgets as they respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. Liberia will receive US$14.2 million of the total amount.

In its press release announcing the decision, the financial institution highlighted the fragility of the three countries, noting, “Liberia and Sierra Leone were severely impacted by the Ebola pandemic between 2014 and 2016, while The Gambia is undergoing a transition after the departure of President Yahya Jammeh in 2016.”

The three countries took urgent steps to mitigate the spread of the Coronavirus after the announcement of the first cases in March but by the 22 of this month, there were 146 confirmed cases in The Gambia; 1,114 cases in Liberia; and 1,731 cases in Sierra Leone.

The African Development Bank has a US$10 billion COVID-19 response fund that it is using to help African countries deal with the economic and health impacts of the crisis.

Featured photo courtesy of the Office of Paul Kagame