WB approves $1.25b in loans for Bangladesh

Staff Reporter :
The World Bank’s Board of Directors approved $1.25 billion in loans for three projects promoting environment friendly, more resilient and greater inclusive development in Bangladesh.

The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors discussed a fresh Country Partnership Framework (CPF) for Bangladesh on Friday with mentioning that the new project funding will help Bangladesh to achieve upper-middle-income country status by 2031.

The loan was approved under the World Bank Group’s New Country Partnership Framework (CPF). This information was given in a press release sent from the Dhaka office of the World Bank on Friday (April 28).

Of the loan, a $500 million program on Agricultural and Rural Transformation for Nutrition, Entrepreneurship, and Resilience (PARTNER) project to promote diversification, food safety, entrepreneurship, and climate resilience in the agri-food systems.

To facilitate country’s transition to green and climate-resilient development, World Bank group approved another credit support of $500 million under First Green and Climate Resilient Development program.

And, the loan amounted to $250 million for Sustainable Microenterprise and Resilient Transformation (SMART) project aiming to transform the micro-enterprise sector into a more dynamic, less-polluting, resource-efficient, and climate-resilient growth sector, according to the statement.

Regarding the credit support under the newly adopted CPF, the World Bank country director for Bangladesh and Bhutan, Abdoulaye Seck, said in the statement that “This CPF will support the government’s reform programs to deliver jobs and support inclusion and resilience”.

“Bangladesh has an ambitious goal – to achieve upper middle-income status within a short period and that too in the face of the daunting challenges of climate change,” said Junaid Kamal Ahmad, MIGA Vice President of Operations.

“Access to private capital and global financial markets will increasingly be needed to achieve this goal,” Ahmad added. With these three projects approved, the International Development Association’s (IDA) total ongoing program in Bangladesh stands at $16.3 billion. MIGA’s current program in Bangladesh just over $1 billion. IFC has ongoing program of about $1 billion, as per data from World Bank Group.