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Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has urged the World Bank Group (WBG) to explore the possibility of sustaining crisis response keeping in mind debt sustainability of vulnerable countries amid surge in COVID-19 cases.

She also appreciated the pro-active role played by the WBG in helping developing countries get access to vaccines in a timely and affordable manner in coordination with other multilateral agencies like WHO and GAVI (Global Vaccine Alliance). The WBG, she observed, has stepped up its financing in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic with total financing approvals exceeding USD 100 billion for the first time.

She stated countries are all engaged in steering their economies and people safely out of the COVID-19 pandemic. She said the Government of India has taken several measures to contain the spread of the pandemic and also to mitigate its social and economic impact including a series of economic stimulus packages in the past one year.

She mentioned that the government has announced Aatmanirbhar packages of Rs 27.1 lakh crore, amounting to more than 13 per cent of the GDP. These packages were meant not only to provide social protection to the poor and vulnerable but also to push forward the economic reforms.