$274m foreign aid received in Q1
Wednesday, 14 November 2007
FE Report
Bangladesh received foreign assistance worth US$274.26 million during the first quarter of the current fiscal, which is $149.25 million higher than that of corresponding period of the last fiscal, official sources said.
The amount of overseas aid was worth $125 million during the first quarter (July-September) of the previous fiscal 2006-07.
However, the aid disbursed by different bilateral and multilateral donors during the July-September period of fiscal 2007-08 is $110.29 million lower than the commitment for the same period.
According to the Economic Relations Division (ERD), the government in the current budget has set a target about foreign aid receipt at about $2.124 billion.
Last fiscal, the government received over $1.45 billion in foreign aid against the target of about $1.62 billion, sources in the ERD said.
A senior ERD official told the FE that although the present caretaker government had laid emphasis on strengthening the project implementation capacity of the agencies, the disbursement is comparatively lower due to failure in project implementation in time.
When asked, Secretary of the ERD, Aminul Islam Bhuiyan, Tuesday told the FE that as some implementing agencies failed to implement projects during the first quarter of current fiscal, the government received less than the expected external fund.
"If the government's project implementing agencies were able to implement the foreign-funded project in time, the disbursement would have been much higher in the first quarter of FY08," he said.
The secretary, however, believes the aid flow will rise in the coming months and the target set in the budget will be achieved.
Usually the donors disbursed their committed funds after receiving the utilisation statements by the government agencies concerned.
Another ERD official said the disbursement could be much lower in July-September'08 period if the $75 million budgetary support credit by the World Bank was not released during the period.
The inefficiency in project implementation by the government agencies/divisions/ministries is the key reason for less aid inflow to the country, the official said adding, "the agencies concerned have been able to implement less than 6.0 per cent of the 36 big foreign-funded projects during first four months (July-October) of the FY08".
Bangladesh received foreign assistance worth US$274.26 million during the first quarter of the current fiscal, which is $149.25 million higher than that of corresponding period of the last fiscal, official sources said.
The amount of overseas aid was worth $125 million during the first quarter (July-September) of the previous fiscal 2006-07.
However, the aid disbursed by different bilateral and multilateral donors during the July-September period of fiscal 2007-08 is $110.29 million lower than the commitment for the same period.
According to the Economic Relations Division (ERD), the government in the current budget has set a target about foreign aid receipt at about $2.124 billion.
Last fiscal, the government received over $1.45 billion in foreign aid against the target of about $1.62 billion, sources in the ERD said.
A senior ERD official told the FE that although the present caretaker government had laid emphasis on strengthening the project implementation capacity of the agencies, the disbursement is comparatively lower due to failure in project implementation in time.
When asked, Secretary of the ERD, Aminul Islam Bhuiyan, Tuesday told the FE that as some implementing agencies failed to implement projects during the first quarter of current fiscal, the government received less than the expected external fund.
"If the government's project implementing agencies were able to implement the foreign-funded project in time, the disbursement would have been much higher in the first quarter of FY08," he said.
The secretary, however, believes the aid flow will rise in the coming months and the target set in the budget will be achieved.
Usually the donors disbursed their committed funds after receiving the utilisation statements by the government agencies concerned.
Another ERD official said the disbursement could be much lower in July-September'08 period if the $75 million budgetary support credit by the World Bank was not released during the period.
The inefficiency in project implementation by the government agencies/divisions/ministries is the key reason for less aid inflow to the country, the official said adding, "the agencies concerned have been able to implement less than 6.0 per cent of the 36 big foreign-funded projects during first four months (July-October) of the FY08".