The World Bank might give Bangladesh $250 million in budgetary support, not $500 million as it had offered earlier this year, Finance Minister AMA Muhith says.
However, there are no problems over issuing the $1 billion Taka Bond by its lending arm, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), he said while speaking to bdnews24.com at the Peruvian capital.
Muhith is heading the Bangladesh delegation at the 2015 World Bank-IMF Annual Meeting in Lima.
On the second day of the deliberations, the finance minister had a meeting with WB Senior Vice President Kyle Peters.
“We had sought $500 million, but they will not give that much. A maximum of $250 million can be expected,” he said.
During last year’s WB-IMF annual meeting, Bangladesh had sought $500 million for the 2015-16 fiscal.
Since then, the matter was negotiated in several meetings between officials of Bangladesh government and the World Bank.
“After a long time, the World Bank wanted to give budgetary support and we had also expressed our interest. We hope to get it and use it in this fiscal,” Muhith told bdnews24.com.
The WB funds projects in Bangladesh, but after 2008 it has not given any money as budgetary support.
“No conditions are attached to these supports. The government can spend it on any sector through the budget,” said Muhith.
The IFC has already started the process to issue the Taka Bond worth $1 billion, he said, adding the funds would be spent on infrastructure.
During his meeting with Peters, he urged the global lender to appoint someone who has ‘a clear idea about Bangladesh’ to head its office in Dhaka.
Bangladesh Country Director Johannes Zutt’s term is about to expire and the lending agency is supposed to appoint a new one in November.
Source: bdnews24
