World Bank (WB) vice president for South Asia Praful C Patel Tuesday expressed concern over the impact of rising food prices on consumption and nutrition levels of the poor people in Bangladesh.
"It is crucially important that the significant gains in poverty reduction achieved here are not eroded by high food prices", he said addressing a press conference in Dhaka.
Patel said Bangladesh's prospects for Bangladesh becoming a middle-income country soon could suffer setback if smooth political transition does not take place. He, however, expressed his optimism about such a transition.
"I am sure, Bangladesh will be a middle-income country if it can maintain seven per cent (annual) growth for next 10 years," he said.
But to maintain consistency in growth rate the country must have to go forward with several agenda, including continuation of reforms, enhancement of investment in human resources development and infrastructure, improvement of agro-productivity and preparedness to face climate change, said the WB vice president.
Patel, who is retiring next month after 35 years with the World Bank, said: "Over the last five years I have visited Bangladesh 15 times and every time I come back here I am always impressed by the extraordinary resilience and spirit of the Bangladeshi people."
Bangladesh's decade-long rapid economic growth has led to a significant reduction in poverty rates and impressive progress toward several other millennium development goals (MDGs), he said.
"I am eagerly looking forward to Bangladesh achieving the middle-income country status sooner rather than later," Mr. Patel added.
Mr. Praful Patel, however, expressed concern over the soaring prices of food and oil and termed it as a 'global crisis.'
A global action is urgently required to contain the hike, he added.
The WB vice president, however, assured that the WB would help the country deal with rising food prices.
"The sharp rise in food prices has had serious impact on food consumption and nutrition levels of poor people in Bangladesh," said Mr. Patel.
"The World Bank is committed to helping Bangladesh overcome this challenge by providing financing to the government, investing in social protection programmes and efforts to boost agriculture," Mr. Patel said.
Mr. Patel also urged the government to maintain Bangladesh's legacy of sound macroeconomic management while ensuring food security.
"The emphasis in the fiscal year 2008-09 on protecting the poor from food price inflation is laudable," he said.
However, equal care is needed to ensure that the social protection measures are well targeted in order to maximise benefits to the poor and protect other productive expenditure on infrastructure and human development, the WB vice president observed.
During his visit, Mr. Patel met with Chief Adviser Dr Fakhruddin Ahmed and advisers to discuss the government's wide-ranging governance and economic policy reform agenda.
He praised the caretaker government's efforts to maintain macroeconomic stability and to improve the core institutions of accountability, such as the judiciary and the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).
Mr. Patel reiterated that the WB was committed to help Bangladesh adapt to and mitigate climate change and to further improve natural disaster management.
He said the World Bank is working with various development partners to help develop a major disaster preparedness programme for the country.
"In the coming years we will significantly scale up our activity on both adapting to and mitigating climate change. This includes rehabilitation of recent cyclone affected areas, coastal zone management, and building embankments and shelters," Mr. Patel said.
He also said that the WB is embarking on a long-term programme to strengthen regional cooperation in such areas as water management and flood control among Bangladesh, India and Nepal, which could benefit some 400 million people.
WB country director in Bangladesh Xian Zhu and other senior officials were present at the press conference.
