 Mr Speaker, I beg to leave the following motion, standing in my name, whereas it is provided by section 13 of the Public Finance Management Act, cap 15.0 on the act that the Minister of Finance, me, by an affirmative resolution of parliament, borrowed from a bank or other financial institution for the capital or current experience of government and whereas it is further provided by section 64 of the act that money borrowed by the government must be paid into and form part of the consolidated fund and whereas the Minister of Finance considers it necessary to borrow from the Caribbean Development Bank the sum of US dollars 5.220 million to finance the building capacity and resilience in the health sector to respond to the coronavirus 2019 project and whereas the loan is repairable in 20 years after the grace period of 3 years from the loan agreement date in 80 equal, approximately equal and consecutive quarterly installments and whereas the loan repayments commence on the first day of January, the first day of April, the first day of July and the first day of October in each year after the grace period of 3 years following the date of the loan and on such later due date as the bank may specify in writing and whereas interest is payable at the variable rate of 5.16 yuan on the amount of the principal, disbursed and outstanding from time to time on the first day of January, the first day of April, the first day of July and the first day of October in each year commencing after the date of the first disbursement of the loan be it resolved that the parliament offerises the Minister of Finance to borrow from the Caribbean Development Bank the sum of US 5.22 million to finance the building capacity and resilience in the health sector to respond to the coronavirus 2019 project be it resolved that the loan is repairable in 20 years after the grace period of 3 years from the loan agreement date in 80 equal, approximately equal and consecutive quarterly installments the loan payments commence on the first day of January, the first day of April and the first day of July and the first day of October in each year commencing after the date of the first disbursement of the loan be it resolved that the bank may specify in writing interest is payable at the variable rate of 5.16 yuan on the amount of the principal, disbursed and outstanding from time to time on the first day of January, the first day of April, the first day of July and the first day of October in each year commencing after the date of the first disbursement of the loan Mr. Speaker Before I begin my explanation I just want honour members to note that the interest rate of this loan is 5.16 percent which demonstrates how interest rates have begun to climb due to the external environment Mr. Speaker interest rates that we have absolutely no control over have begun to climb so whereas normally loans of this type will attract an interest rate of 2 percent, 3 percent this time we have to have a variable rate of 5.16 percent something that we have absolutely no control of since we have no control over the capital markets and interest rates are increasing worldwide so Selusha is part of the world so Selusha is not exempted from the increases in interest rates Mr. Speaker Mr. Speaker this resolution is seeking approval from the parliament to borrow the sum of 5.2 million US dollars from the special funds reserves of the Caribbean Development Bank allocated from IDB COVID-19 OECS line of credit for the implementation of the Selusha building capacity and resilience in the health sector to respond to the coronavirus 2019 project Mr. Speaker the outbreak of COVID caused a spread rapidly across the world from December 2019 to 2022 a global pandemic was declared on March 11, 2020 by the WHO and approximately 633.2 million confirmed cases and more than 6.5 million deaths have been recorded across 221 countries and regions as of November 17, 2022 and as of November 17, 2022 a total of 12.8 million vaccine doses were administered like most of the other regional small island developing states Selusha was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and the country recorded its first case in March 2020 from 2020 the government instituted various control measures including management of social gathering the quarantine of suspected cases and management of identified positive cases close of borders to regional international travel sourcing of external medical support for the Cuban medical brigade and administering of vaccines as of December 20, 2022 there have been 29,754 confirmed cases of COVID-19 with 490 deaths in Selusha as of December 40, 2022 a total of 5583 persons have been fully vaccinated 5159 partially vaccinated and 7903 persons have received boosters the pandemic, Mr. Speaker has had a negative impact on all sectors of the society social, economic, health etc the increase in demands on the health sector brought about by COVID-19 has undermined major progress in attaining the sustainable development goal number 3 good health and well-being for all consultation to various stakeholders on the means of health and wellness identified COVID-19 disruptions constrained access to quality healthcare services including essential services healthcare personnel were profoundly impacted Mr. Speaker I want to use this opportunity again to thank the healthcare professionals who assisted us and who continued to work during the COVID pandemic Mr. Speaker the overall expected impact of the virus of the virus project is to enhance the capacity of the public healthcare system to respond to current and emergent health security threats because it is said that there may be more pandemics to come so we need to bolster the resilience in the health sector of Senusia Mr. Speaker the expected outcomes of this loan or what the money be used for is expected to improve capacity for surveillance case detection and monitoring the establishment of initiatives to break the chain of transmission of the illness and improve service delivery capacity in order to achieve this the project would comprise of the following one project support services improving response to COVID-19 and emergent health threats two minor works and three project management and auditing services costs Mr. Speaker let me explain the project components component number one improving response to COVID-19 emergent health threats sub component number one e improving surveillance case detection and monitoring this sub component will support actions to enhance surveillance facilitate case detection and monitoring and improve data collection recording this includes the supply and installation of lab equipment expansion of the COVID-19 response unit procurement of consumables and communications technology equipment and other resources as well as footage and personnel for the COVID-19 response unit sub component 1b interrupting the chain of transmission this component supports the provision of resources to halt or reverse the spread of COVID-19 and other emerging and emerging illnesses focusing on communication procurement of medical equipment procurement of transportation reimbossables for services provided Mr. Speaker reimbossables for services provided are very important because there are a number of people who gave up their hotels to enable us to provide to provide quarantine for the people who are diagnosed as positive so these people have to be paid Mr. Speaker sub component 1c strengthening service delivery for critical care of COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 affected people this component will support the procurement of resources for the million highway medical complex the respiratory hospital and the public dental care unit and support staff component number 2 minor works sub component 2a interrupting the chain of transmission this component supports minor works for enhancement of the respiratory hospital which provides critical care for persons affected by COVID-19 and other infectious diseases the activities below are urgently needed to provide a safe and conducive working environment for staff safeguard the integrity of the physical infrastructure as well as support the requirements of the occupational health and safety act and international protocols for infection control and safety sub component 2b strengthening service delivery for critical care of COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 affected people this sub component supports the continuity of care and will focus on dental healthcare the focus will be on the re-habitation of dental clinics to improve the observers of protocols and improve safety accommodation for clients and staff component number 3 project management and auditing services this segment of the project comprises several consultancies that will assist in the execution of key activities of the project and which are aimed at enhancing efficiency in the procurement process ensuring the conduct of the end of project audit and covering other project management resources project management resources includes the establishment of a project coordinating unit the fallen persons will be engaged a project coordinator a risk communications consultant a procurement officer a procurement specialist a social inclusion and gender mainstream training consultant firm for the design of supervision of books to improve the delivery of healthcare at the respiratory and dental health clinics Mr. Speaker this project is expected to be implemented over a period of 13 months Mr. Speaker, as I read before the loan is repairable in 20 years after a great period of 3 years and the government will repay the amount you have drawn from the loan account in 80 equal or approximately equal payments Mr. Speaker Mr. Speaker and the loan is at a variable rate and there is no commitment charge on this loan and I spoke of the issues as they relate to interest rates Mr. Speaker which will have repercussions in the future Mr. Speaker this project presents to our country an opportunity to sustain the funding of many initiatives that have commenced in the fight against COVID-19 and to secure financing for new initiatives aimed at strengthening our healthcare system and combating any further spread of COVID-19 Mr. Speaker I think all members of this horrible house agree that this loan is essential the COVID-19 pandemic caused severe disruption in the health services of the country and it also caused social issues Mr. Speaker social issues, issues in education many children could not go to school because there were no devices they could not home school because there were no devices Mr. Speaker many people suffered from the fact that they could not go out they could not socialize they could not entertain Mr. Speaker so apart from the health effects there were serious psychological effects of COVID-19 and I think people have not we have not even started to understand what the impact of COVID-19 may have had on our society and on our people Mr. Speaker so Mr. Speaker if you notice there is a part of that loan we use for social inclusion projects where we try to do research to really find out evidence base Mr. Speaker evidence base on the impact of COVID-19 on the country Mr. Speaker Mr. Speaker I urge honourable members to support this motion as we continue our fight against the COVID-19 pandemic I thank you Mr. Speaker