Donors to help govt recover from flood losses

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FE Report
The country's bilateral and multilateral donors have assured the government of support in its efforts to recover from the losses caused by the floods now sweeping the country.
At a donor-government meeting Wednesday, some development partners made instant commitment of grant worth US$4.0 million for relief operation and rehabilitation activities.
The Local Consultative Group (LCG), a platform of the donors working in Bangladesh, called the special meeting on the current flood at the NEC conference room in Dhaka in order to find out ways to extend cooperation to Bangladesh.
Several representatives of development partners of Bangladesh, including Asian Development Bank (ADB), UK's Department for International Development (DFID), Japan, European Commission (EC), USAID, United Nations, International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the Dutch and Swedish governments attended the LCG meeting, with the World Bank's country director and also chairperson of the LCG, Xian Zhu, in the chair.
A source, who attended the LCG meeting, told the FE that the donors suggested the government to divert some funds from the ongoing donor-funded projects towards the relief operation and rehabilitation works for the flood-hit people.
"The development partners further said that if additional fund is required, they will provide it to the government," he said.
After the meeting, Secretary of the Economic Relations Division (ERD) Aminul Islam Bhuiyan told reporters that the donors said that they would cooperate with the government in its efforts to recover from flood losses.
He said that the commitment of instant $4.0 million grant at the meeting came from the DFID, USAID and Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA).
Australian and Japanese government also hinted that they would give assistance within a short time.
Bhuiyan said that the government apprised the donors about the present flood situation and possible economic losses. "The donors have assured us of their cooperation for the post-flood rehabilitation after the assessment of damage. We think the ERD will sit with them in near future to brief them on actual losses and necessary external help," he stated.
According to ERD sources, the government received $554 million from different donors, including ADB and World Bank, rehabilitation and rebuilding of infrastructure that were damaged by the devastating floods in 2004.
According to a study conducted by the World Bank and the ADB, the 2004 floods caused about $2.3 billion in losses to Bangladesh's economy.
Xian Zhu in the LCG meeting Wednesday told reporters that the donors had arranged the meeting for getting informed about the present flood situation and its possible losses.
Now the donors will find out ways of cooperation for immediate relief and post-flood rehabilitation works in the affected areas, he said.
The World Bank in a presentation at LCG meeting feared that the growth of the country's gross domestic product (GDP) might fall by 0.2 percentage points to 6.8 per cent in fiscal 2007-08. The government might also face difficulties in fiscal management due to the current flood.