Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal on Thursday sought greater and continued assistance from the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank in various sectors of the country to overcome the shock of novel coronavirus pandemic.
In order to face the adverse impact of this deadly virus on the country’s economy and also on society, Kamal sought greater AIIB assistance, including higher project assistance for the next fiscal year (FY21), $500 million budget support for FY21 and FY22 for continuing the economic recovery programme of the government which will be used for automation of the agriculture sector, processing of the agricultural products, fruits, vegetables, cold storage, leather processing, poultry farming, rearing livestock and fish farming, reports BSS.
Besides, the finance minister sought $100 million from the AIIB for the micro, small, medium and cottage industries.
The finance minister discussed the issues during a teleconference with AIIB President Jin Liqun, said a Ministry press release.
Kamal said, “Coronavirus has started to put impact on our imports and exports while most of our expatriate Bangladeshis have become jobless due to this pandemic. As a result, the inward remittance flow has come to a standstill and to face such crisis moment, we seek continued support and assistance,” he said.
Extending thanks to the AIIB president for announcing a $10 billion financial package for supporting the member countries to overcome the impact of COVID-19, the minister also hoped that with the support from the AIIB, the member developing countries would be able to overcome the adverse impact of this deadly virus.
The finance minister also thanked the AIIB for announcing $450 million immediate support to Bangladesh for tackling this virus crisis.
“The whole world is now going to face a severe global economic recession. The shock of the global economic recession has also become a matter of concern for the economy of Bangladesh. Despite this, we’re working to face the possible negative impact of this virus on our economy,” he said.
Kamal said the commitment of assistance by AIIB to Bangladesh in this crisis moment was very much essential, but under the present circumstances, the government needs much more assistance.
In response, the AIIB president told the Finance Minister that he would actively consider the issue of providing financial assistance to Bangladesh and would inform the government of Bangladesh later about this.
Jin also informed that the funding modality could be changed slightly.
