Bangladesh
World Bank World Bank pledgedes record 3.6 billion dollars in loans in one year
Dhaka, 14 June 2023 : World Bank is the biggest development partner of Bangladesh. Since independence, the organization has been providing money in various sectors including electricity, energy, health, education, internal communication, logistics, regional and global coordination and urbanization for the development of Bangladesh.
A total of USD 3.60 billion has been received from the World Bank for the financial year 2022-23, which is the highest World Bank commitment for Bangladesh in a single year. This information was informed in the press release sent from the Dhaka office of the World Bank.
On Tuesday, the government and the World Bank signed a loan agreement of 19.1 billion US dollars for the Higher Education Acceleration and Transmission Project. Sharifa Khan, Secretary of the Department of Economic Relations on behalf of the Government of Bangladesh and Abdoulaye Sheikh, Country Director of the World Bank Dhaka Office on behalf of the World Bank, signed the financing agreement. World Bank Vice President Martin Riser was present at the signing ceremony.
The project will be implemented from January 2023 to June 2028 at Bangladesh University Grants Commission (UGC) under the Department of Secondary and Higher Education (MAUSI) jointly funded by the Government of Bangladesh and the World Bank. The loan mentioned in the SDR will be taken from the International Development Agency (IDA) of the World Bank.
The loan taken will be repaid in 30 years with a grace period of 5 years. Service charges at the rate of 0.75 percent and interest at the rate of 1.95 percent per annum shall be paid on the loan taken under SDR. A commitment fee of 0.50% per annum will be payable on outstanding balances. However, the World Bank has been waiving the commitment fee for a long time, including the current financial year.
The project has been undertaken to create job opportunities for the highly educated people of Bangladesh and to increase the education rate of women. Major tasks of the project include – introduction of demand-based courses, upgradation of higher education and enhancement of digital connectivity in educational institutions, establishment of teacher training systems and training academies, construction of academic buildings for Asian University for Women and establishment of regional networks between women's colleges and universities.
