Record foreign aid received despite downturn
Sunday, 22 March 2009
FHM Huyaman Kabir
Bangladesh received a record foreign aid worth US$1.23 billion in the first eight months of the fiscal year defying the global economic downturn that has sharply cut aid to poor nations, officials said Saturday.
The amount is $124 million or 11 per cent higher than the amount the country received during the same period last financial year, economic relations division (ERD) secretary M Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan said Saturday.
"Contrary to many predictions, global recession has not impacted foreign aid flow to Bangladesh. We are hopeful the trend will not be affected in the remaining four months of the year," he told the FE.
The government has targeted $2.14 billion foreign aid from bilateral and multilateral donors in the current financial year ending June 30, and Bhuiyan said that the target now looked "very much achievable."
Officials said the aid flow between July 2008 and February 2009 was the highest amount Bangladesh received in eight months since the country became independent in 1971.
In the last financial year the country received a record assistance of $2.084 billion although the donors disbursed only $822.42 million in the first half (July-December).
Most of the aid had been committed before the world became mired in the worst recession since the Second World War, they said.
The ERD secretary brushed aside any concern that the aid flow would dip as rich countries were busy bailing out their own economies rather than bankrolling the poor nations.
"We don't think the global recession will have any major impact on our external aid flow in the near future as the donors are still keen to support us maintaining their previous commitments," said Mr. Bhuiyan.
As of March 12, the donors have committed $2.28 billion worth of loan and grants for Bangladesh including sizeable amount to the country's ailing power sector, the ERD said.
A spokesman of the World Bank, the biggest donor of Bangladesh, echoed Bhuiyan saying major aid agencies and bilateral donors don't have any plan to cut aid to Dhaka despite they are affected by global recession.
"We've adequate funds to help Bangladesh. We will be continuing our support to the country despite the global economic plunge," the spokesman told the FE.
Many people including some donors had earlier forecast that Bangladesh's foreign aid flow would be hit hard along with its export and manpower sectors in the wake of the global meltdown.
Major portion of the $3.7 billion (Tk256 billion) development outlay will come from external assistance during the current financial year.
"If the government agencies could execute their projects efficiently in due time, we would receive more aid than the target in the current fiscal," another ERD official said.
In the current fiscal, out of the total foreign aid, $65 million would come as food aid, $10 million as commodity aid, $1.715 billion as project aid and $350 million as budget support credit.
"We have set a target of signing deals for receiving $3.034 billion aid in current fiscal. We are confident that we can reach the target by June this year," said the ERD official.
"We will get $170 million budget support credit from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) this year. Besides, more aid are on the pipeline from the World Bank and Japan," the official said.
Bangladesh received a record foreign aid worth US$1.23 billion in the first eight months of the fiscal year defying the global economic downturn that has sharply cut aid to poor nations, officials said Saturday.
The amount is $124 million or 11 per cent higher than the amount the country received during the same period last financial year, economic relations division (ERD) secretary M Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan said Saturday.
"Contrary to many predictions, global recession has not impacted foreign aid flow to Bangladesh. We are hopeful the trend will not be affected in the remaining four months of the year," he told the FE.
The government has targeted $2.14 billion foreign aid from bilateral and multilateral donors in the current financial year ending June 30, and Bhuiyan said that the target now looked "very much achievable."
Officials said the aid flow between July 2008 and February 2009 was the highest amount Bangladesh received in eight months since the country became independent in 1971.
In the last financial year the country received a record assistance of $2.084 billion although the donors disbursed only $822.42 million in the first half (July-December).
Most of the aid had been committed before the world became mired in the worst recession since the Second World War, they said.
The ERD secretary brushed aside any concern that the aid flow would dip as rich countries were busy bailing out their own economies rather than bankrolling the poor nations.
"We don't think the global recession will have any major impact on our external aid flow in the near future as the donors are still keen to support us maintaining their previous commitments," said Mr. Bhuiyan.
As of March 12, the donors have committed $2.28 billion worth of loan and grants for Bangladesh including sizeable amount to the country's ailing power sector, the ERD said.
A spokesman of the World Bank, the biggest donor of Bangladesh, echoed Bhuiyan saying major aid agencies and bilateral donors don't have any plan to cut aid to Dhaka despite they are affected by global recession.
"We've adequate funds to help Bangladesh. We will be continuing our support to the country despite the global economic plunge," the spokesman told the FE.
Many people including some donors had earlier forecast that Bangladesh's foreign aid flow would be hit hard along with its export and manpower sectors in the wake of the global meltdown.
Major portion of the $3.7 billion (Tk256 billion) development outlay will come from external assistance during the current financial year.
"If the government agencies could execute their projects efficiently in due time, we would receive more aid than the target in the current fiscal," another ERD official said.
In the current fiscal, out of the total foreign aid, $65 million would come as food aid, $10 million as commodity aid, $1.715 billion as project aid and $350 million as budget support credit.
"We have set a target of signing deals for receiving $3.034 billion aid in current fiscal. We are confident that we can reach the target by June this year," said the ERD official.
"We will get $170 million budget support credit from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) this year. Besides, more aid are on the pipeline from the World Bank and Japan," the official said.