The Ministry of Finance has declined to provide $393 million to the health ministry from the budget to procure Covid-19 vaccines, advising it to arrange foreign loans in order to avoid pressure on exchange rate and also ensure transparency in deals, reported Express Tribune
The finance ministry’s refusal came 10 days before the Asian Development Bank (ADB) is set to approve a $500 million loan for procurement of Covid-19 vaccines. The ADB board is going to approve a $500 million loan for procurement of vaccines on August 6 under APVAX facility.
The health ministry has sought the budget as an additional supplementary grant since the government has not allocated adequate funds in the recently approved budget for vaccine procurement.
During a meeting of a special committee on procurement of vaccines, the additional secretary finance informed the participants that the foreign exchange reserves situation is not very comfortable and the concerned agencies should arrange for loans, a participant of the meeting told The Express Tribune.
