Finance

Bangladesh: 3 percent decline in foreign contribution Bangladesh
Amirul Momenin

Bangladesh: 3 percent decline in foreign contribution

Bangladesh Live News | @banglalivenews | 24 Nov 2020, 10:29 am

Dhaka, November 24, 2020: As the country's economy strengthens, the amount of foreign aid has come down to a minimum. In the post-independence period, the amount of foreign aid grants was 64 to 8 percent, the rest was loans. Now the amount of that grant has come down to 3 percent.

This information has been mentioned in the report informing the cabinet about the foreign aid of the Economic Relations Department, said Cabinet Secretary Khandaker Anwarul Islam.

The report was presented at a virtual cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Monday (November 23rd). The Prime Minister from Ganobhaban and the Ministers from the Cabinet Division of the Secretariat joined the meeting via video conference.

After the meeting, the Cabinet Secretary in the Secretariat said, "The presentation was about the status of foreign aid. If we make a comparison from 1981-82 to the current fiscal year 2019-20, we can see that in the fiscal year 1981-82, the grant (grant) in our foreign aid was the highest 74/75/7 percent, the loan was 6 to 7 percent. The maximum (mostly) would come as a donation. '

He said, "In the fiscal year 2009-10, the grants came in at about 30 per cent, about 60 per cent of the actual loans. In the 2018-19 financial year, grants are coming as a maximum of 5 percent, and 95 percent are coming as loans. Our economic situation, however, shows how the shift is taking place. Grants have further declined in the 2019-20 fiscal year, ranging from 2-3 per cent, to 97 per cent coming as loans. We no longer rely on donations. We depend on our own skills. "

The cabinet secretary said, "The most interesting thing is that we have never defaulted on repayments." It's a big success. "

"In 1996-97, our (foreign aid) disbursement was ৮ 747 million, while debt was 30.48 per cent of our GDP," he said. Our disbursement in the 2019-20 fiscal year is হাজার 7,121 million, but it is 13.34 percent of our GDP. In the meantime, our domestic investment has increased a lot. Despite the increase in money, its ratio to GDP has come down a lot. '