Project Summary

Project General Description

The proposed operation is a loan of EUR 100.5 million to Gabon from the resources of the African Development Bank (AfDB) to finance the Budget Support Programme in Response to the COVID-19 Crisis (PABURC). On the epidemiological level, Gabon recorded its first confirmed case of COVID-19 on 12 March 2020. As of May 27, 2020, the total number of tests carried out was 12,060, of which 2,319 cases tested positive. Of the number of positive cases, there are 1674 active cases, 631 cases cured and 14 deaths. The country has four recently constructed hospital centres, 9 regional hospitals, 47 departmental hospitals, 34 health centres, 413 dispensaries and 157 health huts, but only has 58 intensive care beds. Faced with a high risk of community transmission and the re-emergence of infectious and parasitic communicable diseases, health facilities in Gabon are insufficient. The loan will support the country’s Budget Support Programme in Response to the COVID-19 Crisis or PABURC, which aims to strengthen the health system and mitigate the socio-economic impact of the pandemic on households and businesses. PABURC is consistent with the Bank’s recently approved COVID19 Rapid Response Facility (CRF). This is a budget support to be disbursed in 2020. The response is focusing on containing the spread of the virus, increasing public resources allocated to the health sector, and boosting the resilience of the most vulnerable communities, as well as to maintain livelihoods and shore up domestic business and industry in order to maintain the production system and pave the way for rapid recovery.

Project Objectives

The programme’s overall objective is to support the emergency response and strengthen the health system in order to curb the spread of COVID-19 and mitigate the socio-economic impact of the crisis on households and businesses. Its main expected outcomes are: (i) containment of the spread of the virus, mainly by building preventive, testing and patient care capacities; (ii) an increase in the volume of public resources allocated to the health sector; (iii) stabilisation of the incomes of vulnerable households by maintaining purchasing power, distributing food aid and providing effective social protection; and (iv) strengthening of the resilience of businesses in order to maintain the production system and pave the way for rapid recovery.

Beneficiaries

The Programme will benefit the Government and population as a whole by providing more public resources to address the COVID-19 crisis and mitigate its socio-economic impact. In particular, it will benefit the following groups: (i) vulnerable communities that will benefit from emergency social measures to offset job and income losses, and from improved access to health services; and (ii) Gabonese entrepreneurs and foreign investors who could benefit from the fiscal and financial measures implemented to address the crisis.

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