Foreign aid commitments plunged 60% in first five months of the current fiscal year— a sign being seen as a “go-slow strategy” taken by some major development partners.
According to the Economic Relations Division (ERD) data released yesterday, the foreign assistance pledges during July-November period of the FY2014-15 stood at $896.6m in loans and grants compared to $1.44bn in the same period a year earlier.
Of the total commitments for the period, $698m came in the form of loans and $197m in grants.
Since the government agencies had failed to implement the ongoing projects in time, the aid disbursement had dropped, said some development experts.
However, foreign aid flow during the period totalled $902m with a slight increase from $887.34m a year ago.
Out of the total aid disbursement in July-November period this fiscal, the government has received $748.2m worth of fund in loans and $153.8m in grants.
Among the development partners, the World Bank disbursed only $243.71m, the Asian Development Bank $184m and Japan $128m in loans and grants for the period, the ERD data showed.
Meanwhile, the government in the period repaid $532.26m, including $455m as principal amount and $77.23m as interest, to development partners against the outstanding loans.
In the corresponding period last fiscal year, the government made the debt services of $529m, including $457.5m as principal amount and $78.5m as interest, to foreign lenders.
“Negotiations for some pipeline projects were delayed after a new government took over in January last. So, the aid commitments have been affected. I hope the situation will change next year,” said a senior ERD official.
Besides, the last political turmoil on the issue of national election also affected the aid commitments to Bangladesh, the official said.
The government received a record $3bn worth of foreign aid in FY2013-14 following a significant rise in disbursement by the World Bank and China.
Concessional aid inflow to the country in FY2013-14 was $189m higher than that of $2.81bn in the previous year, ERD data showed.
