Ethiopia - COVID-19 Crisis Response Budget Support Program (ECRBS)

The Ethiopia COVID-19 Crisis Response Budget Support (ECRBS) program aims to support the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia’s NERP to contain the spread of COVID-19 and to mitigate the economic and social impacts of the COVID19 pandemic on local businesses and vulnerable households, particularly the urban poor. Indeed, Ethiopia ranks among the few sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) countries that have halved poverty within a decade. As of end May 2020, 1,172 cases of COVID-19 had been reported in country, with 209 recoveries and 11 deaths. The impact of COVID-19 on Ethiopia’s economy is likely to be significant and may reverse some economic progress achieved. The operation consists of a UA 120 million grant from the country’s ADF-15 Performance Based Allocation to finance the Ethiopian Government’s COVID-19 National Emergency Response Plan (NERP). This is a Crisis Response Budget Support provided in compliance with the Bank Group’s COVID-19 Rapid Response Facility (CRF), approved by the Boards of the Bank and the Fund on 8th April 2020. This program consists of three broad mutually reinforcing components: (i) supporting the health sector response to COVID-19, (ii) supporting the social sector response program against COVID-19 and (iii) safeguarding economic resilience against the after-effects of COVID-19 shocks.