Japanese aid utilization improves in 2009
Saturday, 10 April 2010
Munima Sultana
The utilisation of Japanese financial assistance to Bangladesh rose by 80 per cent in 2009, breaking its average trend of 10 to 20 percent, officials said on Wednesday.
Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), a lending arm of the Japanese government, estimated that 7.92 billion Yen (approximately US $ 87 million) was disbursed during 2009 against 4.31 billion Yen in 2008.
JICA officials said the rate of disbursement to Bangladesh was improved due to aggressive monitoring by Economic Relation Division (ERD) and good performance of Local Government and Engineering Department (LGED) in its four projects.
"As a consequence, disbursement ratio of the Japanese loans to Bangladesh also improved from 6.07 per cent to 7.5 per cent," said Mayumi Endoh, senior representative of JICA.
She said during the Japanese fiscal year of 2008, the Bangladesh government was able to use only six per cent of the Japanese committed loan.
According to JICA statistics, Bangladesh was able to use 15 per cent of the Japanese loans in 2005, which fell to 12 per cent in 2006, 10 per cent in 2007 and 6.0 per cent in 2008.
Though it is an improvement, the JICA high official, however said the amount spent is far less than Bangladesh government's target for utilisation.
The government set a higher target to utilise 120 billion Yen (Approximately $ 130 million) in 2009 to improve the ratio of JICA loan utilisation in line with the international trend. Average JICA loan disbursement ratio in the world is 15 per cent.
The JICA officials said the improvement in the disbursement ratio in Bangladesh should continue to reduce the gap between the disbursed amount and commitment.
The Japanese government provides on an average $ 300 million as loan annually to Bangladesh, which, however, increased to US $ 450 million this year.
An ERD official said JICA fund has now been utilised in 12 projects, mostly in infrastructure.
"Seventy per cent of the JICA disbursed money is used in four LGED projects," said the official.
These projects are eastern Bangladesh rural infrastructure development project, small scale water resource development project, emergency disaster damage rehabilitation project and southwestern Bangladesh rural development project.
The JICA senior official said her government wants to continue work closely with the Bangladesh government to ensure smooth implementation of its funded projects and hoped that the improvement shown in 2009 fiscal would continue.
The utilisation of Japanese financial assistance to Bangladesh rose by 80 per cent in 2009, breaking its average trend of 10 to 20 percent, officials said on Wednesday.
Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), a lending arm of the Japanese government, estimated that 7.92 billion Yen (approximately US $ 87 million) was disbursed during 2009 against 4.31 billion Yen in 2008.
JICA officials said the rate of disbursement to Bangladesh was improved due to aggressive monitoring by Economic Relation Division (ERD) and good performance of Local Government and Engineering Department (LGED) in its four projects.
"As a consequence, disbursement ratio of the Japanese loans to Bangladesh also improved from 6.07 per cent to 7.5 per cent," said Mayumi Endoh, senior representative of JICA.
She said during the Japanese fiscal year of 2008, the Bangladesh government was able to use only six per cent of the Japanese committed loan.
According to JICA statistics, Bangladesh was able to use 15 per cent of the Japanese loans in 2005, which fell to 12 per cent in 2006, 10 per cent in 2007 and 6.0 per cent in 2008.
Though it is an improvement, the JICA high official, however said the amount spent is far less than Bangladesh government's target for utilisation.
The government set a higher target to utilise 120 billion Yen (Approximately $ 130 million) in 2009 to improve the ratio of JICA loan utilisation in line with the international trend. Average JICA loan disbursement ratio in the world is 15 per cent.
The JICA officials said the improvement in the disbursement ratio in Bangladesh should continue to reduce the gap between the disbursed amount and commitment.
The Japanese government provides on an average $ 300 million as loan annually to Bangladesh, which, however, increased to US $ 450 million this year.
An ERD official said JICA fund has now been utilised in 12 projects, mostly in infrastructure.
"Seventy per cent of the JICA disbursed money is used in four LGED projects," said the official.
These projects are eastern Bangladesh rural infrastructure development project, small scale water resource development project, emergency disaster damage rehabilitation project and southwestern Bangladesh rural development project.
The JICA senior official said her government wants to continue work closely with the Bangladesh government to ensure smooth implementation of its funded projects and hoped that the improvement shown in 2009 fiscal would continue.