Bangladesh has not got membership of newly launched Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) as the country did not have the law ratified in the Parliament, said Finance Minister AMA Muhith while talking to journalists in Dhaka yesterday after returning from China.
“Our membership request has been rejected for the time being as we have not had the AIIB law ratified in our Parliament,” he lamented. “But Bangladesh remains as an observer of the bank.”
Muhith said they were unaware of the urgency of ratification, admitting that this was “our failure and negligence.” “We attended the last meeting in China in October last year to discuss about setting up of AIIB. But we didn’t follow up the matter.”
AMA Muhith said additional secretary of the Economic Relations Division Asif-uz-Zaman would be included in the bank’s board of directors from Bangladesh.
He said the Chinese government had given $2bn to set up a building for the bank, while the authorities selected a site for its headquarters in the centre of Beijing, the capital of China.
About loan disbursement of the AIIB, finance minister said the bank might start disbursing loan in next four months. He hoped Bangladesh would get loans from the bank for development of communication system and the bank would prioritise developing Bangladesh’s road networks and connectivity.
He said the country had already submitted proposals for eight infrastructure development projects in road, railway, and ICT sectors involving $7bn to the bank. Muhith said the government was focusing on road link project between Cox’s Bazar and Myanmar.
The interest rate of the AIIB loans would be less than 2% with a grace period of 8-9 years, quite comparable to credits from World Bank and International Monetary Fund, finance minister said.
In reply to a question, he said every development partner except Japan and South Korea took supplier credit. He hoped China would also follow Japan and Korea in this regard.
Muhith said: “A huge number of Chinese private firms are now in negotiation with different ministries and divisions in Bangladesh. In these negotiations, the development projects should be prioritised.”
Letters would be sent to ministries and divisions with suggestions on prioritising development projects that would serve greater interest of the nation, he said.
