WB to give $245m more for safety-net programmes

Secretariat Correspondent: The World Bank (WB) will provide US$245 million more to Bangladesh in order to ensure equity, efficiency and transparency in safety-net programmes.

To this end, the organization is to ink a US$245 million additional loan agreement with the Bangladesh government at the NEC-II Conference Room at the Economic Relations Division (ERD) in the city's Sher- e-Bangla Nagar area tomorrow (Tuesday).

ERD Secretary Kazi Shofiqul Azam and WB country director Qimiao Fan will sign the agreement on behalf of their respective sides.

With the additional financing, the Washington-based lending agency's total commitment to the project stands at $745 million while the project will end on June 30, 2019, said an official of World Bank.

The credit is from the International Development Association (IDA), the World Bank's concessional lending arm. The credits are interest-free and repayable in 38 years, including a six-year grace period, and carry a service charge of 0.75 percent.

The government implements a number of safety-net programmes to support poor and vulnerable people in the country.

The financing to the ongoing safety-net systems will benefit nine million poorest households. It will also help improve performance of some of the country's largest safety-net programmes, which are implemented by the Department of Disaster Management, according to the WB.

These safety-nets include public workfare and humanitarian assistance programmes.


risingbd/Dhaka/Jan 8, 2018/Hasan/AI