New Delhi has expressed its desire to extend the second line of credit but it seems that it has all information up its sleeve till Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit.
“We are yet to know what will be the amount of second line of credit let alone other information. For some reasons, they are not divulging any information,” said a senior government official.
Indian Secretary Sujata Mehta early this year came to Dhaka and had a meeting with Finance Minister AMA Muhith and expressed their willingness to provide the credit.
“It seems that they want to give us a surprise. It may be mentioned in the speech of the Indian prime minister or it could be included in the joint statement,” the official said.
In the first line of credit, Indian side announced it during the visit of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to India in 2010 and the detailed negotiation about the credit took place after the announcement.
“There will be a repeat of what had happened five years back,” he added.
“We have sent a list of over 10 projects with an estimated expenditure of about $2 billion to the Indian side,” the official said.
The projects are on health, education, tourism, infrastructure, communication and information technology, he added. “We are not certain which projects will be approved.”
The official said the finance minister in his discussion with Sujatha said the first line of credit was used for infrastructure sector but this time the government wanted investment in social sectors like health and education.
India provided $1 billion line of credit in 2010 but $200 million of the amount was later converted into grant to be used in Padma bridge project
So far, Bangladesh has exhausted the credit in different projects and the last amount stood at $868 million.
“The additional $68 million will also be provided by the Indian government,” according to the official.
The interest rate of the first line of credit is 1% with a repayment period of 20 years and five years grace period.