Dhaka to ask WB to release pledged funds

FE Team | Published: October 19, 2007 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00

Dhaka plans to push the World Bank (WB) to release the aid it pledged in the country assistance strategy 2005-06 (CAS) paper, a senior Economic Relations Division (ERD) official said, reports bdnews24.com.
"We want the WB to follow the CAS, and disburse the aid it has committed," ERD Additional Secretary Shaheedul Haque said Thursday.
According to the CAS, the WB was to lend Bangladesh $2.96 billion in the four years, starting in the 2005-06 fiscal. But the multi-lateral lending agency has so far disbursed only one-fourth of the promised aid.
Haque confirmed that Finance Adviser AB Mirza Azizul Islam, who is now in Washington for the annual meeting of the WB and International Monetary Fund (IMF), would raise the issue on the sidelines of the meeting, scheduled for October 22-23.
On the basis of the CAS, the WB committed to lend Bangladesh about $1.6 billion between 2005-06 and 2006-07. But the bank has given over just $819 million. Of this, $456 million was released in the 2005-2006 fiscal, and $363 million in the 2006-07 fiscal.
"Bangladesh will seek the promised funds that have remained outstanding for the previous two fiscal years along with the commitment for the current fiscal year," the ERD official said.
Bangladesh's demand from the WB in the current fiscal year would be about $1.6 billion. According to the official, the WB has already hinted at committing $800 million for the current fiscal year.
"We need the pledged funds to carry forward projects that we failed to execute in the previous two years because of fund crisis," Haque said. "Some projects will always remain unimplemented, if the WB does not release the funds it committed."
Another ERD official said, the issue had already been discussed with WB Vice-President Praful C Patel and other officials at the WB's Dhaka office.
"We think our project implementation capacity has developed, and we're capable of consuming $1.6 billion this fiscal year," Haque said. "We don't want additional money, we want the committed funds."
According to the ERD and Finance Division officials, the Caretaker Government has felt that it deserves more assistance from the donors, including the WB, to carry out reforms.
The government has continued its drive against corruption, and its effort to separate the Judiciary from the Executive. It is also working to boost business confidence and operations at Chittagong Port, through which 80 per cent of the country's $28 billion trade was done in the 2006-07 fiscal, ERD officials said.