The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a 50-million-U.S. dollar loan to help restore the economic activities of microenterprises in Bangladesh, which have been severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to a statement of the Manila-based lender received here Tuesday, the loan will scale up the ongoing Microenterprise Development Project, approved by ADB in 2018 to provide a 50-million-U.S. dollar credit line to Palli Karma Sahayak Foundation (PKSF), a government development finance and capacity building organization.

Under the ongoing project, the PKSF, through its 77 partner organizations, has so far provided loans to 39,580 microenterprises, generating 91,430 jobs in rural areas.

The new credit line to the PKSF will provide loans to at least an additional 30,000 microenterprises affected by COVID-19, 70 percent of which are women-led.