The World Bank has released $150 million to the Dominican Republic to help the country in its fight against the novel coronavirus, COVID-19.

The funds have been disbursed from a “contingent credit line” from the World Bank known as the Catastrophe Deferred Drawdown Option.

The option, known as Cat-DDO, was the first of its kind in the Caribbean when it launched in 2018, providing liquidity to a country’s efforts in either recovering from natural disasters or public health emergencies.

The Dominican Republic is currently set to begin a national state of emergency on April 3, which is set to last for a period of 25 days.

The move comes after the Dominican Republic had initially closed its borders beginning March 19.

“In recent years, the Dominican Republic has been making progress in strengthening its capacity to respond to emergencies, including for public health-related events,” said Alessandro Legrottaglie, Country Manager for the Dominican Republic at the World Bank. “This rapid financing demonstrates the World Bank’s commitment to support the Dominican Republic’s efforts to respond to the immediate health and social needs of the people in the face of an extraordinary challenge.”

— CJ