The World Bank has reassured Bangladesh of extending budgetary support to the government if it fully implements its reform proposals in the energy sector.
The Finance Minister said this after World Bank South Asia Vice-President Annette Dixon met him at his ERD office, reports UNB.
Muhith said the World Bank vice-president raised the issue during the meeting and added that the budgetary support may reach $500 million. “More detailed discussions in this regard would be held in the next annual meeting of the World Bank at Peru next month.”
Answering to a question, he said the government has recently adjusted to some extent the power tariff, “But, there’s a bit more left for implementing their proposals.”
Asked about the adjustment of the fuel price following decline in the fuel price on the international market, the Finance Minister said the government would not do anything right now in this regard.
During the meeting, Muhith said they discussed the loan structure of the Washington-based lending agency. The ADB has recently merged their all types of loans, including soft and hard-term loans and the World Bank also wants to initiate a process for such a merger.
Annette Dixon told reporters the World Bank wants to speed up the pace of their support towards the Bangladesh government to maintain the continuity of GDP growth. The World Bank is particularly interested in those projects where GDP growth could be more boosted.