A loan agreement was signed between Georgia and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) for a rapid response project against COVID-19, the Ministry of Finance told InterPressNews on Thursday.

The document was signed by the Minister of Finance, Ivane Machavariani and the Vice President of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, Konstantin Limitovskiy.

"It should be noted that the financial resource allocated by the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank is the part of the loan agreement the World Bank's "Rapid Response Project against COVID-19” signed on May 1, providing $80 million in financial support to Georgia,” the Ministry said.

Reportedly, the amount of the budget support is EUR 91,340,000 and its goal is to finance measures that help prevent, detect and respond to the threat posed by the COVID-19 pandemic and provide immediate social protection support to the most vulnerable. Health-related emergency COVID-19 response measures include case detection and confirmation, increased testing, as well as health system strengthening for case management.