Bangladesh achieved considerable progress in utilising Japan's aid loan in the Japanese financial year ending in March, data shows.
The disbursement of overseas development assistance loan from JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency) reached 142,514 million JPY (US$ 1.32 billion) until March 13.
This shows the utilisation rate of 96.5 per cent against the annual target, according to a recent portfolio review. Japanese financial year ends in March.
The target for disbursing Japanese loan was 147,727 million Japanese Yen (US$ 1.37 billion) against 32 Bangladeshi projects.
The ODA is broadly divided into bilateral aid, in which assistance is given directly to developing countries, and multilateral aid, which is provided through international organisations. Bilateral aid consists of finance and investment cooperation and grants. Of these, JICA provides concessional loans as ODA loans.
Secretary of the Economic Relations Division Kazi Shofiqul Azam termed the utilisation rate "very satisfactory" and urged the implementing agencies to make every effort to continue the spirit of project execution.
He said that Japan is Bangladesh's largest bilateral development partner and its assistance is helping the country increase its growth potentials.
"Smooth implementation of the ongoing projects will contribute to the sustainability of our development," he said.
In the review meeting, chief representative of JICA office in Dhaka Takatoshi Nishikata said Japanese Prime Minister made a commitment of JPY 600 billion loan assistance for Bangladesh in May 2014. The Japan government fulfilled the commitment by 2017.
He said the Japanese ODA commitment has jumped tenfold in 10 years.
Bangladesh was the third-largest ODA-recipient among South and Southeast Asian countries in Japanese financial year 2017, according to JICA senior representative Kaita Tsuchiya.
He said that the ODA disbursement (96.5 per cent of the annual target) is the highest among all major recipient countries. This was the highest achievement for Bangladesh compared to the performance in recent years, he noted.
However, the JICA officials found that though the overall disbursement is satisfactory, some projects fall below the targets.
Statistics show that disbursement in favour of New Haripur Power Plant Project (II) is only 8.0 per cent against the target, for the Inclusive City Governance Project the disbursement was 11 per cent of the target, and for the Haor Flood Management and Livelihood project, the disbursement was 22 per cent of annual target.
Besides, for the Urban Building Safety Project the disbursement was 40 per cent of target, while for the Upazila Governance and Development Project, Foreign Direct Investment Project, Hazrat Shahjalal International Expansion Project, and Small Scale Water Resources Development project (phase-2), no single yen was disbursed.
The review meeting requested the executing ministries and divisions and the implementing agencies to put highest efforts in utilising JPY 148 billion as earmarked for the Japanese financial year 2017, according to a senior finance ministry official.
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