Bangladesh expects $400m budget support from ADB

Adviser to the interim government on the Ministries of Finance and Commerce of Bangladesh, Dr Salehuddin Ahmed yesterday expressed his optimism that the Asian Development Bank (ADB) would lend $400 million as budget support to Bangladesh within the current fiscal year (FY25).

He also informed that the government has already sought $3 billion support from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in addition to its already allocated $4.7 billion credit support to Bangladesh. 

“Discussions in this regard will be held with the IMF authorities during my upcoming visit to Washington to join the annual meetings of the IMF and the World Bank Group,” he added.

The Finance Adviser was replying to a volley of questions from reporters after three separate delegations from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), ADB and the Australian High Commission to Bangladesh met him at his office at the Secretariat on Sunday.

He said all of the three development partners were very much positive about continuing their relations and making more engagements with Bangladesh.

Dr Salehuddin said the government wants from the development partners to reduce further the cost of interests and bringing in more low cost funding.

Besides, the government also wants that the development partners extend the repayment period to at least 30 years as China has recently been requested in this regard. However, Japan is already complying with this, he added.

Replying to another question, he said that the immediate past Awami League government did not work for ensuring maximum welfare of the country’s people, adding, “But, we don’t want to make post mortem of the past, rather wants to move ahead”. 

Responding to a question, the Finance Adviser said that the foreign aid flow to Bangladesh is almost fine, but there were questions regarding optimum utilization of those and the priorities for utilization.

“There were some monument projects in our country in the past regime, a symptom which was also seen in India…,” he added.

Asked about the outcomes of the meetings, Dr Salehuddin said that all the three are the important development partners of Bangladesh. “We discussed with them to intensify further the cooperation that they were enjoying with Bangladesh,” he added.

During the parleys, he said the development partners have assured the government of providing more assistance and making more new engagements.

Besides, the Adviser said that discussions on funding projects in the physical infrastructure sector alongside energy, agriculture, disaster management also took place in the meetings.

JICA chief representative Tomohide Ichiguchi, Acting High Commissioner of Australia to Bangladesh Nadira Simpson and ADB Director on Public Sector Management and Governance Sector Cigdem Akin led their respective delegations in the meetings.