Govt borrows $1.097b from three int'l lenders

The government has borrowed over US$ 1.097 billion from three international lenders in favour of its different entities, officials said.

The standing committee on non-concessional loan of the government early this month approved three loan deals in this regard.

Of the total, International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC) would lend US$ 700 million while Exim Bank, China US$ 282 million and Agence Française de Development (AFD) € 115 million.

The government has approved US$ 700 million borrowed from ITFC to import fuel oils for the calendar year 2018.

In this regard, a meeting was held between a high-powered Bangladesh delegation and ITFC at Jeddah in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) on October 11-12.

The amount of loan and the rate of interest were fixed at the meeting. The tenure of the loan is six months from the date of corresponding disbursement and the rate of interest is 3.8 per cent annually. Letter of Credit (LC) issuance fee was set at 0.20 per cent, the officials added.

Besides, over US$ 282 million has been approved to build a dual fuel (gas and furnace oil) combined cycle power plant, having the generation capacity of 330MW of power, in Khulna through bidder's financing in single stage-single envelope process.

The tenure of the loan is 15 years with a three-year grace period. The rate of interest is six-month Libor+280 bps. The rate of commitment and management fees is 1.0 per cent.

The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) already approved the project in December 2016. The government expects that the project will be completed by 2019.

State-owned Power Development Board (PDB) will implement the project with the loan to be taken out from Exim Bank of China.

Besides, Agence Française de Development (AFD) of France would bankroll € 115 million to development of Saidabad Water Treatment Plant project (Phase III). Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (DWASA) has taken up the project.

The maturity period of the loan is 20 years with a seven-year grace period. The rate of interest is six-month Euribor +margin.

Three more foreign lenders will finance the Saidabad Water Treatment Plant project (Phase III). Signing of a deal in this regard is now under process, according to Economic Relations Division (ERD).

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