International Finance Corporation would enhance its operations in Bangladesh to boost job creation and economic competitiveness.
IFC Regional Director for South Asia Serge Devieux said this at a meeting with Bangladesh Bank Governor Atiur Rahman, reaffirming IFC’s commitment towards building momentum for rapid, inclusive, and sustained growth in the country, said a press release yesterday.
The private sector arm of the World Bank Group is working on expanding job-creation opportunities, building critical infrastructure – including power, energy, and transport – and supporting better working conditions in the readymade garments sector to improve Bangladesh’s competitiveness, he said.
IFC’s work in Bangladesh supports the World Bank Group’s goals of ending extreme poverty and boosting shared prosperity.
In the last two years, IFC invested over a $1bn in the country. In the current fiscal year, IFC has committed nearly $400m for 12 projects till date.
These include supporting natural-gas resources development, funding an independent power project to ensure the supply of electricity is reliable and affordable, and expanding trade finance and efficient working capital solutions for domestic private industry.
Bangladesh, which accounts for 5% of the world’s poor, is one of IFC’s largest country-specific advisory programmes.
IFC has a growing pipeline of investment projects in sustainable energy, power generation and distribution, economic zones, sea ports, inland transport, and the financial sector.
It is also implementing new advisory programs such as the Partnership for Cleaner Textiles, with support from Netherlands; the Better Work initiative with the International Labour Organisation to improve the rights and safety of workers in the garment industry; and the South Asia Regional Trade and Investment project for enhanced economic integration.
In addition, IFC is scaling up its advisory work on public-private partnerships to help mobilise financing for and build essential infrastructure.
