Foreign aid disbursement picked up in January as the government received US $1.75 billion assistance in July-January period this fiscal, $179 million up from the same period of the last fiscal, officials said Monday.
The aid commitments also increased in January from its continuous falling trend over the past few months of the current financial year (FY) 2014-15 as the development partners came forward with some big loans for public sector development works.
In July-January period of the current financial year (FY) 2014-15, the development partners confirmed $2.07 billion concessional loans and grants, $516 million up from that in the corresponding period of last FY2014, Economic Relations Division (ERD) data, released Monday, showed.
"A couple of loan agreements with the World Bank in January last raised the overall aid commitment in July-January period this fiscal. It has helped to revamp the poor aid inflow to Bangladesh in the H1 this fiscal," said a senior ERD official.
The World Bank on January 26 signed a big loan deal worth $375 million with the government for the Multipurpose Disaster Shelter Project which has helped boost the overall aid commitment.
Besides, the two major donors disbursed a large amount of loan last month against some projects and programmes which increased the overall disbursement too, the official said.
ERD statistics showed that in the first seven months of the current FY2015, donors working in Bangladesh had made commitment of $1.76 billion in loans and $303.02 million in grants.
Of the $1.75 billion aid disbursed in July-January period this fiscal, the government received $1.40 billion in loans and $341.30 million in grants.
Among the development partners, the largest multilateral donor World Bank disbursed $544.42 million, the Asian Development Bank $501.27 million, Japan $140.25 million, Islamic Development Bank $98.65 million and India $10.21 million aid during July-January period in FY2015, the ERD data showed.
Meanwhile, the government in July-January period this fiscal had made payment of $718.53 million---$604.86 million as principal amount and $113.67 million interest--to the development partners against the outstanding loans.
In the corresponding period of last FY2014, it made the debt service payment of $718.28 million--$593.58 million as principal amount while $124.70 million as interest, to the foreign lenders, ERD data showed.
The government received a record US$3.0 billion foreign aid in the last FY2013-14 following a significant rise in disbursement by the World Bank and China, officials said.
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