AKIPRESS.COM - The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a $50 million package to help the Government of the Kyrgyz Republic support food security, social protection, and livelihoods for vulnerable groups in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, compounded by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

ADB’s Building Resilience with Active Countercyclical Expenditures (BRACE) Program will help finance the government’s anti-crisis action plan, which aims to boost agricultural production, expand social safety nets, and support jobs and small and medium-sized enterprises.

“We are pleased to see the approval of this program at a time when the country has limited fiscal space. This will help the government mitigate the negative impact of inflation, support price stability and food security, and prevent vulnerable groups from falling deeper into poverty,” said ADB Director General for Central and West Asia Yevgeniy Zhukov.

The BRACE program will benefit more than 1 million people in the Kyrgyz Republic (out of the total population of close to 7 million), including low-income families, widows, senior citizens, and people with disabilities. The program will support farmers and agricultural producers. It will also help to stabilize trade, especially of agri-food products, with the Kyrgyz Republic’s fellow Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) Program members, and European partners.

The package comprises a $25 million grant from the Asian Development Fund, which provides grants to ADB’s poorest and most vulnerable developing member countries, and a $25 million concessional loan. ADB will also provide $400,000 in technical assistance to enhance the government’s capacity to implement the program and strengthen its monitoring and evaluation system, as well as identify reform areas for further support.

"This program builds on a strong base of country knowledge and close collaboration with the Kyrgyz Republic,” said ADB Public Management Specialist Bobir Gafurov. “It will help to strengthen the country’s economic resilience and improve social inclusion by providing critical support to vulnerable groups in their time of need.”