L’Assemblée nationale  approuve le projet de loi relatif à la réponse stratégique nationale face au covid-19

The National Assembly approves the bill relating to the national strategic response to covid-19

The Minister of Economic Affairs and Promotion of Productive Sectors, Mr. Ousmane Mamoudou Kane, explained that this project is part of efforts to allocate the funds necessary for the implementation of the national plan to fight against the Covid-19 pandemic, stressing that it aims to strengthen national public health capacities in the areas of prevention of the Covid-19 pandemic through its early detection and rapid reactivity.

He indicated that the project involves a loan from the World Bank in addition to two funds previously given to our country as a grant during the years 2020 and 2021.

He added that the current loan amounts to 14,300,000 Special Drawing Rights Units, equivalent to approximately 722,000,000 MRU; loan which will be repaid over 30 years, including five years deferred, at an interest rate of 1.25% per year on the amounts drawn on the loan and with commitment fees of up to 0.5 per year on amounts not drawn from the loan in addition to a service charge of 0.75% per annum on the amount drawn down on the loan.

The Minister stressed that the main objective of the loan is to facilitate access to the vaccines necessary to fight the pandemic and to increase the efficiency of the national health system, noting that our experience in the fight against the pandemic has been hailed by many countries and many regional and international organizations just as it has been ranked among the best in Africa, which has been praised in several forums.

During their speeches, the deputies dwelt on the importance of this bill, stressing that the threat of Covid-19 still exists. According to WHO, the Covid-19 pandemic is responsible for 13 to 17 million deaths. They stressed the need to regularize the situation of workers in the Covid-19 units, stressing that this group of citizens worked in difficult sanitary conditions and gained experience in the fight against a Covid-19 pandemic to be subsequently dismissed instead of encouraging them and resolving their situation.

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