After Independence, the international financial institution World Bank (World Bank) extended its hand in the progress of Bangladesh. In light of the institution's upcoming celebration of its 50 years of relationship with Bangladesh, they have now pledged that this cooperation will continue.
Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal said: “Since our independence, the World Bank has helped a lot in the development of Bangladesh. You (World Bank) must help the development of Bangladesh in the coming days as well. In any case, the World Bank can't say no in this regard.”
World Bank Managing Director Van Trotsenburg predicted that the per capita income will double by 2031, but reforms would first need to be implemented. The World Bank will be with Bangladesh on this journey, he continued.
They were speaking at the 50-year celebration of the World Bank with Bangladesh titled “Celebrating A Journey Together: Bangladesh and The World Bank” at the Bangabandhu International Conference Center in the capital on Sunday (January 22).
The event was jointly organized by the Ministry of Finance and the World Bank.
The finance minister in his speech said the development of the country has started since independence. Bangladesh's growth has increased 74 times since 1972.
After independence, the country's GDP growth was only 6.3 billion, which has now increased to $465 billion.
“Currently, Bangladesh is the 35th largest economy in the world and our poverty rate has come down to 20%, per capita income increased to $2,824 and average life expectancy increased to 73 years.”
“Our development partners have made many contributions in this development journey. We have always had the World Bank in particular in this journey,” he also added.
Highlighting future plans, the finance minister said: “Our next target will be Bangladesh as an upper-middle income country in 2031 and in 2041 Bangladesh will be Smart Development Bangladesh. Bangabandhu is the architect of Bangladesh but Sheikh Hasina is the architect of modern Bangladesh. There is no question about it.”
In his keynote speech, Van Trotsenburg said: “Bangladesh has done very well in three areas - women's empowerment, investment in people and environment. But they have to do better.”
The program was started with an introductory speech by Sharifa Khan, secretary of the Economic Relations Division (ERD).
Martin Raiser, World Bank vice-president for the South Asian Region gave his speech.
On the sidelines of the celebration, the finance minister of Bangladesh and the managing director of the World Bank jointly inaugurated a multimedia photo exhibition “A Journey Together” in the carnival hall of the Bangabandhu conference centre.
The exhibition will continue till 9pm on Sunday.
The World Bank remained Bangladesh's dependable partner throughout the five decades of this incredible trip, nevertheless.
Bangladesh joined the World Bank Group in August 1972 and a $50 million Emergency Recovery Credit, the first World Bank initiative for Bangladesh, was approved in November 1972 to aid the war-torn country in rebuilding its transport and communication, agricultural, and industrial sectors with limited assistance to the construction and electricity sectors.
The World Bank also revived four additional projects that had been sanctioned prior to the liberation conflict at the same time.
Since then, the World Bank has committed about $39 billion in International Development Association (IDA) financing in the form of grants, interest-free loans, and concessional credits to help the country overcome its development challenges.
With about $15.3 billion in financing for 53 ongoing projects, currently Bangladesh has the largest ongoing IDA program and World Bank is Bangladesh's largest development partner.
