France to provide Euro 300m budget support
FE REPORT | Tuesday, 21 May 2024
Bangladesh has secured Euro 300 million in loan as budget support from France which will be disbursed over the next three years.
The France development partner-AFD on Monday confirmed the concessional loan through an agreement with the Economic Relations Division (ERD), a press release from the ERD said.
ERD Secretary Md Shahriar Kader Siddiky and AFD Deputy County Director for Bangladesh Cecilia CORTESE signed the loan agreement on Monday at ERD in Dhaka.
The Ambassador of France Marie Masdupuy was also present at the signing ceremony.
A senior ERD official said under a 3-year programme between the fiscal year (FY) 2023-24 and FY2025-26, Bangladesh will get Euro 100 million loans every year.
The AFD will also provide Euro 5.0 million as grants for building capacity of the different stakeholders involved in the implementation of the policy loan, the press release said.
The programme aims at supporting Bangladesh's climate-resilient and low-carbon development pathway, in line with the medium and long-term national priorities defined in the National Adaptation Plan [NAP], the Mujib Climate Prosperity Plan [MCPP] and the Nationally Determined Contributions [NDC].
The first loan of Euro 100 million is likely to be disbursed by June 2024.
Since 2012, the AFD has been operating in Bangladesh and supports development projects for power and energy, environment and climate change, transport and communication and health sector.
Currently, AFD has been funding some 11 on-going projects in Bangladesh confirming a total amount of assistance Euro 1.142 billion (US$1.24 billion).
Out of the total amount, Euro 1.12 billion ($1.22 billion) is loan and Euro 19.89 million ($21.65 million) is grants.
AFD has so far disbursed Euro 2.21 billion ($2.402 billion) loans and grants, of which Euro 1.084 billion ($1.180 billion) has been disbursed as of June 2023, ERD said.