Muhith hopeful about WB \\\'rethink\\\'

Finance Minister AMA Muhith has welcomed World Bank rethink on financing projects tainted by allegations of corruption. He believes the World Bank Group - International Monetary Fund (IMF) Annual Meetings 2014 starting on October 10 in Washington DC will be significant. Muhith feels the meet is consequential for Bangladesh, which decided to proceed with the Padma bridge project with its own funds following the cancellation of WB funding. “We have begun work on the Padma bridge with our own funds. If they want to participate in it now, they will have to join at the point we currently stand and on the basis of tenders that have been invited,” he said. Recently, in a speech in advance of the WB-IMF Annual Meetings, President Jim Yong Kim spoke about the World Bank Group's goal of boosting shared prosperity. "We are working to ensure that the growth of the global economy will improve the lives of all members of society, not only a fortunate few," he said. In the three-day conference the WB and the IMF will finalise their plans for the next one year. The World Bank had expressed its willingness to rejoin the Padma bridge project last year after withdrawing funding for it in June 2012, but the government spurned the renewed offer and decided to proceed with its own resources. Meanwhile, the World Bank has announced a change in its policy regarding the funding of projects facing charges of corruption. It has said it would investigate such allegations against projects funded by it without pulling out, according to bdnews24.com.