The government is likely to sign three agreements with the World Bank aimed at developing the financial sector in Bangladesh and ensuring better facilities for the beneficiaries.
The deals are likely to be penned during the annual meeting of the World Bank (WB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) at Washington DC in the USA later this week.
M Aslam Alam, secretary of the Bank and Financial Institutions Division, gave the hints while talking to the Dhaka Tribune at his secretariat office yesterday.
The secretary is scheduled to attend a seminar on WB’s assistance for the development of Bangladesh’s financial sector.
“We will discuss the various projects concerning the development of the banking sector, strengthening the central bank, crop insurance and reducing financial risks associated with natural calamities,” Alam said.
He also said there were chances that some of the projects – including the one for strengthening the central bank and the crop insurance – might get extension upon signing of the deals with the WB. This, he said, was likely to come after the WB-IMF annual meeting, also known as the bank-fund annual meeting.
A three-member team led by Secretary Alam is scheduled to fly to Washington DC on October 12. The other members of the team are officials of the Bangladesh Bank.
The WB-funded project for strengthening the central bank was launched in 2003 whose duration had been extended several times over the last then years.
The crop insurance project was commenced in 2013. The Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction provided a $2m grant for the “Pilot Project on Weather Index-Based Crop Insurance” under the Asian Development Bank while the Government of Bangladesh is providing in-kind support of $420,000.
Meanwhile, after the bank-fund meeting, Finance Minister AMA Muhith is likely to sign a $500m agreement with the WB for budgetary support following a five-year break.
The WB has recently responded positively to the Bangladesh government’s request for deficit financing of the national budget on conditions that the local government and banking sectors will be reformed.
A WB team visited Bangladesh in August for reviewing the necessity of budgetary credit support.
In the last annual meeting of the WB and IMF in 2013, Muhith placed a request for the bank to extend budgetary support for Bangladesh.
