FE Report
The World Bank (WB) approved on Monday a loan amounting to $245 million for Bangladesh to make the country's social safety-net programmes more accountable and transparent.
The fund will be given in addition to the WB's previously confirmed $500 million for a project to modernise the government's social safety-net programmes for improving these to better serve the country's poor and disabled people.
The board of directors of the Washington-based lender approved the loan at its headquarters, said a WB statement.
The WB financing for the ongoing 'Safety Net Systems for the Poorest Project' will benefit nine million poor households across the country, the WB release mentioned.
An ERD official said they will sign the $245 million loan deal with WB to confirm its disbursement shortly.
The WB statement further said the fund will improve equity, efficiency and transparency of the major safety-net programmes in Bangladesh.
Rajashree Paralkar, operations manager of WB Dhaka office, said: "In last financial year (FY), 2016-17, Bangladesh spent around $3.5 billion on social protection, which is about 1.4 percent of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP)."
"By effectively identifying the poor households and administering the safety-net programmes, the government will continue to reduce poverty and ensure efficient use of public resources," she added.
To support the poor and vulnerable people, the government has been implementing a number of safety-net programmes.
According to WB, the fund will facilitate streamlining safety-net programme administration, as the project is helping to build common platforms for improved beneficiary targeting, information management, and digital payment.
The financing will support Department of Disaster Management to roll out a management information system to administer beneficiary records and programme processes as well as to expand digital payment to the beneficiaries
with greater efficiency and transparency.
Under the project, Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics will complete the country's first universal poverty registry - the National Household Database. It will be integrated with external information systems, allowing various ministries and agencies concerned to use its data for more equitable beneficiary selection.
With the additional financing, WB's total commitment for the project stands at $745 million. The project will end on June 30, 2019.
The credit will be disbursed from International Development Association (IDA), WB's concessional lending arm. The credits will charge 0.75 per cent interest, which is repayable in 38 years, including a 6-year grace period.
Since the independence WB has made commitment to disburse over $26 billion in grants and concessional loans to the country.
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