ROK approves $100m loan

South Korea has approved the provision of US $100 million from Economic Development Cooperation Fund (EDCF) to Bangladesh to help the recovery of Bangladesh's economy hit by the coronavirus pandemic.

"The Republic of Korea has already provided 50 million USD of EDCF loan as budgetary support in December 2020 to help Bangladesh's efforts for fighting against the COVID-19 pandemic," a spokesman of South Korean Embassy said on Monday.

It is the second provision of this type of concessional loan, he added.

EDCF is a development financing programme of the Republic of Korea (ROK) for assisting the socio-economic development of developing countries.

This will also be the first EDCF loan to be implemented under the new EDCF Framework Agreement for the years 2021 through 2025 which was signed between the two governments on October 24, 2021.

According to the agreement, the South Korean government will provide up to US $700 million concessional loans to the Government of Bangladesh for the five year period.

The new concessional loan of $100 million will be used to implement several projects aimed at advancing public finance management system and improving small and medium-sized businesses struggling from the repercussion of the pandemic.

The amount would be released as soon as the loan agreement is signed between the Korea EXIM Bank and the Bangladesh government which is expected to be done within this year.

Bangladesh is the second largest recipient of the EDCF loans worldwide in aggregate amount.

So far, South Korea has funded 24 development projects of Bangladesh with a total amount of $1.2 billion through the EDCF.

mirmostafiz@yshoo.com