The Program supported the financing of the Government of Brazil’s expenditures incurred under Law 13.982/2020 that “establishes exceptional social protection measures to be adopted during the period of confrontation of the public health emergency of international importance resulting from the coronavirus
(COVID-19)”. The Program supported (i) the maintenance of minimum income levels for informal, self-employed and unemployed workers with the Basic Emergency Aid; and (ii) families under the cash transfer Bolsa Familia Program that are also eligible for the Basic Emergency Aid. The Program contributed to improving the living conditions of vulnerable people, in the face of the COVID-19 crisis, which is affected income and employment levels. The Program was specifically related to the Government of Brazil’s response to the COVID-19 outbreak. The Program helped ensuring that strong fiscal support was in place to combat the outbreak and that priority public investment projects in 2020 were implemented, and to helping the economic recovery of the country. The Program supported the implementation of non-pharmaceutical interventions, such as social distancing while contributing to safeguard the living conditions of the most vulnerable population in Brazil during the COVID-19 crisis.

The purpose of the Loan was to support the Government of Brazil to strengthen social safety nets and to address immediate socio-economic impacts arising from the COVID-19 outbreak, particularly on the most vulnerable population in Brazil, who were heavily impacted by the COVID- 19 outbreak. The Program was NDB’s fourth emergency assistance program to combat COVID-19, following the emergency assistance programs to China, India, and South Africa. The Program contributed to Brazil’s ongoing efforts to contain the spread of the virus, to slow the rate of COVID-19 infection, and to minimize the negative social and economic consequences of the social distancing measures related to the COVID-19 outbreak. By addressing the immediate socio-economic challenges posed by the COVID-19 outbreak, the Program also supported the medium and long-term sustainable development and economic growth paths of Brazil. NDB’s emergency assistance is strategically relevant with NDB’s mandate of promoting sustainable development. More importantly, the Program provided much needed emergency support to its member country. The Program also represented a diversification of NDB’s operations beyond traditional infrastructure, envisaged by the NDB’s General Strategy 2017-2021, in response to the development needs of NDB’s member countries.

The Program was implemented by the Ministry of Citizenship of the Government of Brazil to support minimum income levels for the most vulnerable population, including informal, self-employed and unemployed workers, and poor families with a Basic Emergency Aid. The Ministry of Economy was the Borrower. The World Bank/IBRD, the Interamerican Development Bank, KfW, AFD and the Development Bank of Latin America also provided financial support to the Brazilian Government efforts to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Program was Category “C” in line with NDB’s Environment and Social Framework (ESF). The Program, which involved the financing of cash transfers of social safety nets government programs, did not cause negative environmental and social impacts and bring brought positive social impacts due to the emergency income aid benefit directly to the vulnerable population, such as informal workers, self-employed, unemployed, and their families.