The World Bank said on Wednesday, it will provide $ 750 million in support of the 15 crore MSMEs budget to increase liquidity access to viable small businesses affected by COVID-19.

During the fiscal year 2020 (July 2019 - June 2020), the World Bank has extended  $ 5.13 billion in loans to India, the highest level in a decade. This includes USD 2.75 billion in three months in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Junaid Ahmad, World Bank Country Director in India, said that this funding is under the multilateral lender's Development Policy Loan, which is direct budget support.

The funding will support the government's initiative to protect the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) sector by opening up liquidity, strengthening non-bank financial companies and small finance banks, and allowing universal access to financing.

Ahmed said that in the next stage of the World Bank's assistance program for MSMEs, the Multilateral lender would engage with the Ministry of MSMEs and countries to ensure capacity development at the group level.

"The World Bank Board of Executive Directors approved a USD 750 million MSME Emergency Response program to support the increased flow of funds in the hands of MSMEs, which were severely affected by the COVID-19 crisis," the World Bank in a statement.

The lender had previously approved USD 1 billion each for the social and health sectors for support during the pandemic. 

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