The World Bank approved on Wednesday $250-million development policy credit to help Bangladesh create more, better-paid and quality jobs in a rapidly changing environment.
The 'Programmatic Jobs Development Policy Credit' will help the country develop a stronger policy and institutional framework to address barriers to more and better jobs for citizens.
According to a release of the multilateral lender, jobs would be created for persons, including women, youth and the vulnerable population.
It said despite Bangladesh's robust economic growth, the pace of job creation has slowed in recent years, and almost stalled in the ready-made garment sector.
The growth rate for jobs fell to 1.8 per cent in 2010-16 from 2.7 per cent in 2003-10.
Women and the youth in particular face challenges in accessing quality jobs, the release mentioned.
Climate change has exacerbated this challenge, thus highlighting the need to significantly increase employment in the non-agriculture sector, it said.
"Bangladesh has made remarkable progress in accelerating growth and reducing poverty, but the rate of job creation has not kept up with economic growth," said Qimiao Fan, WB country director for Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal.
Creating more and better jobs is a prerequisite for Bangladesh to achieve its vision of upper-middle income status, he mentioned.
"This will require the economy to create jobs for 2.2 million youths entering the labour force each year while attracting more women into the labour market," Mr Fan said.
This programme supports reforms to stimulate trade and private sector investment, strengthen social protection for workers and help the vulnerable population access jobs, he added.
To promote large-scale employment in diverse manufacturing sectors, it will help improve investment environment, lift barriers to doing business and modernise customs and facilitate trade.
It will also help implement amendments to the labour law and reform the pensions programme to ensure works are protected, the release said.
"This programme seeks to increase investments in labour-intensive activities, improve quality of jobs, strengthen resilience to shocks," said Thomas Farole, WB lead economist and task team leader.
It will also ensure women, youth and migrants access job opportunities, he remarked.
"In addition, it will help develop market-oriented skills for women, youth and overseas migrants, preparing them for better employment opportunities," Mr Farole noted.
The programme also aims to increase female labour force participation by increasing availability of childcare for working mothers and targeting women and youth with training and employment services.
The $250 million credit is the first in a series of three instalments (total $750 million) that complements the WB portfolio in the country.
The credit comes from its International Development Association (IDA) as soft loan and has a 30-year repayment term, including a five-year grace period.
Since its operation in Bangladesh, the WB committed more than $30 billion in grants and interest-free credit to the country.
Bangladesh currently has the largest IDA programme totalling $12.2 billion.
Meanwhile, a press release sent from finance ministry said the WB credit comes as budgetary assistance.
The government is free to spend the sum in any development project, it stated.
This is the biggest single-largest credit from the WB for Bangladesh and first-ever development policy assistance in a decade from the lender, it said.
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