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Singapore gives US$10 million to pandemic fund hosted by the World Bank
SINGAPORE — Singapore will contribute US$10 million (S$13,892,150) to a fund hosted by the World Bank to deal with pandemic prevention, preparedness and response.
“We have to play our part to overcome the current pandemic and better prepare for the next one. This will help avoid a repeat of the catastrophic economic, social and human costs of COVID-19,” the Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Health said in a joint statement issued Tuesday (21 June).
The G20 Joint Finance and Health Ministers Meeting has endorsed a proposal to set up a financial intermediary fund (FIF), in line with recommendations by the G20 High Level Independent Panel.
The panel, established by the Italian G20 Presidency last year, is co-chaired by Senior Minister and Coordinating Minister for Social Policies Tharman Shanmugaratnam along with World Trade Organisation Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and former US Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers.
A financial intermediary fund is a trust fund administered and managed by the World Bank to leverage public and private resources for global initiatives, such as preventing communicable diseases, responding to climate change and providing food security.
Other such funds include the Green Climate Fund, the Global Environment Facility, and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
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Over US$1.1 billion has been pledged to the fund by the United States, the European Union, Germany and Singapore, among others, Indonesia's health minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin said in a news conference yesterday, according to a Reuters report.
Singapore said it will continue to work closely with the Indonesia G20 Presidency and international partners in efforts and responses against future pandemics.
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