The COVID-19 Crisis Recovery Facility (the Facility) launched by AIIB in April 2020 has been effective in assisting Members (both sovereign and non-sovereign clients) address diverse emergency healthcare and economic needs. Some Members have utilized Facility support for health-crisis response, including vaccines and other treatments to combat high rates of infection and/or high risks of virus resurgence. Others have accessed the Facility to cover additional fiscal expenditures aimed at protecting or restoring livelihoods impacted by COVID-19. Several Members have also mobilized the Facility to boost post-pandemic recovery through investments in resilient institutions, private sector-led growth reforms, and inclusive and sustainable economic recovery programs.

Flexibility is built into the design of the Facility because each country’s situation differs as they move through phases of the health and economic crisis. The Bank has demonstrated agility by responding on short notice. Cofinancing and working with other MDBs on Facility projects has enabled us to leverage synergistic gains through partnerships with the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank.

We also provided vaccine financing and liquidity support to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to AIIB Members for the first time, and streamlined internal rules to allow fast-tracking of Facility projects.



On May 7, 2020, the Board approved the carve out of USD30 million from AIIB’s Project Preparation Special Fund (PPSF) to a Special Fund Window (SFW) under the Facility. As of Dec. 31, 2021, USD29.74 million of the USD30 million SFW has been allocated to four Facility projects amounting to an AIIB financing of USD217.3 million in four Members: Bangladesh, Cambodia, Kyrgyz Republic, and Maldives. On May 20, 2021, the Board approved another carve out of up to USD25 million from PPSF to a SFW for vaccine financing under the Facility. As of Dec. 31, 2021, there are three vaccine financing projects in the pipeline in Cambodia, Côte d’Ivoire, and Bangladesh eligible for USD5 million each from the SFW for vaccine financing under the Facility.

In June 2021, the Board of Directors approved an extension to the COVID-19 Crisis Recovery Facility until April 16, 2022.

As of Dec. 31, 2021, the full amount of the Facility has already been committed, approved, or programmed. There are 53 Facility projects totalling USD13.0 billion including: (i) 45 approved projects (USD11.1 billion, of which 15 projects are PBFs for USD5.4 billion); and (ii) 8 pipeline projects (USD2.0 billion), of which 1 project is PBF for USD500 million). Thirty-three percent of the commitment (USD4.3 billion) are for the public health sector, including USD2.4 billion (18.4 percent) for vaccine financing and USD1.9 billion (14.6 percent) for non-vaccine financing, 18 percent (USD2.4 billion) are for the finance/liquidity sector, and 49 percent (USD6.3 billion) are for the economic resilience/PBF sector. Ninety-three percent of the commitment (USD12.1 billion) are for sovereign-backed financing and 7 percent (USD0.9 billion) are for non-sovereign-backed financing.

In February 2022, the Board of Directors approved further extension of the Facility until end-2023, and with the extension of the Facility, the total financial envelope was also increased up to USD20 billion.