Major donors, both multilateral and bilateral, despite their critical stance on January 05 parliamentary polls are continuing their development cooperation with Bangladesh, belying speculations about possible 'non-cooperation' with the new government, officials said Saturday.
A number of key donors, including the World Bank (WB), the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Germany, signed separate aid deals with the newly-elected government early this month.
There were speculations that since the major donor countries including the US and European nations were critical of the January 05 polls, conducted by the Awami League (AL)-led interim government, they might not cooperate with the new government.
Bangladesh's major development partners have been very critical about the 'non-participatory' national poll, conducted by the last Sheikh Hasina government. Some of them are still putting pressure on the newly-installed government for holding a credible election soon.
On February 10 this year, the WB for signed two separate loan deals involving a sum of US$535 million with the newly elected AL-led government.
On the following day on February 11, the ADB signed a credit agreement involving $310 million with the government for facilitating power sector development.
Germany also confirmed Euro10.5 million grants for Bangladesh's power sector development as it signed an agreement in Dhaka on February 11.
"We were in disarray over getting the timely financial support of many developed countries, mostly key donors like the WB and the ADB. Many speculated that the development partners might not cooperate with the newly-elected government," said a top Economic Relations Division (ERD) official.
He said much of the uncertainty was over after signing the loan deals with the WB on February 10 this year.
Some more aid deals with the donors would be signed soon, the official told the FE.
They would sign an aid deal with China and another agreement with the ADB shortly, he added.
The ERD official said they are hopeful of getting continuous support of the development partners in the coming days too.
According to the two deals, the WB will provide $410 million in loans for municipal governance and services project and $125 million in additional financing for the higher education quality enhancement project.
The ADB's $310 million loans would be utilised to further improve the country's power supply system to get rid of outages and expand the electricity network.
The Euro10.5 million grant agreement with Germany will also give a boost to the country's power sector.
