Foreign aid disbursement falls by 21.52pc

Staff Reporter :
The disbursement of the foreign aid declined in July-March period of the current fiscal year due to the government’s austerity measures in public spending in the development sectors.
Experts said that the global economic crisis and the government’s austerity measures in spending in the development sector have led to foreign aid ebbing down, as the public agencies are being discouraged from taking up fresh projects.

In addition, execution of many of the ongoing foreign-aided projects also slows under a blow back impact of the austerity, they added.
The decline in the foreign aid has also impacted on the country’s foreign exchange reserves, they said.
According to the Economic Relations Division (ERD) provisional data, the disbursement of foreign aid fell by $1.47 billion or 21.52 per cent to $5.36 billion in the nine-month period of the current fiscal year from $6.83 billion in the corresponding period of the last fiscal year.

Out of $5.36 billion, $5.02 billion came as concessional loans while $0.34 billion as grants during the nine-month period, the data showed.
The development partners, including the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the World Bank (WB), the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), China, Russia, and the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) disbursed concessional loan every year for the development of Bangladesh.

During the period under review, JICA alone provided $1.30 billion, the highest amount of assistance. Besides, the WB disbursed $854.30 million, the ADB disbursed $801.93 million, Russia $747.20 million, China $637.97 million, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) $336.39 million and India disbursed $208.66 million.

On the other hand, development partners’ commitments of foreign aid decreased by $2.35 billion or 43.28 per cent to $3.08 billion in the July-March period of FY23 from $5.43 billion in the same period of FY22.

The country’s major bilateral development partners, including China, India and Russia, are conspicuous by not making any commitment of foreign aid during the period under review.
Out of $3.08 billion aid commitment, the development partners confirmed $2.80 billion worth of loans and $0.28 billion as grants.
Meanwhile, the government repaid $1.73 billion as principal and interest of its total outstanding loans during the mentioned period of FY23 compared to $1.60 billion during same time of last fiscal year.