Political uncertainty blamed
Commitment for the foreign loans and grants declined by 46.56 per cent in the first nine months of the current fiscal year because of the unrest in the run up to the January 5 national elections and ongoing political uncertainties. Latest data of the Economic Relations Division showed that the total commitment came down to $2,903.89 million in July-March of FY 2013-14 which was $5,433 million in the same period of the previous year.
ERD officials said the government was trying to revive loan negotiations with the development partners and lenders as many of them avoided Bangladesh during the recent political unrest.
A number of officials said that the donors were still uncertain about the fate of the political situation in the country in the coming months as the alliance of opposition parties were threatening for movement against the government, which was elected through the controversial January 5 elections.
They said development partners were mostly continuing the funding of existing projects and were somewhat reluctant to give fund for new projects.
Of the total commitment in the nine months of the FY14, $444.19 million was in grants and $2,459.70 million was in loans, the ERD data showed.
In the same period of the FY13, $567.73 million was in grants and $4,865.94 million in loans.
Development partners disbursed $2,171.41 million during July-March period whereas the amount totalled $1,908.61 million during the same period a year before.
Of the total disbursed amount, $556.96 million was in grants and $1,614.45 in loans against $509.41 million grants $1,399.21 million loans disbursed in the nine months of the FY 2012-13.
The actual disbursed amount stood at $1,308.9 million as the government has so far managed to repay $862.51 million loans including $701.20 million in principal amount and 161.32 million in interests in the period.
During the same period a year before, the repaid amount was $880.32 million that included $720.79 million principal amount and $159.53 million interests.
Of the released fund, World Bank released $697.91 million, Asian Development Bank $382.51 million, Japan $344.78 million, China $223.40 million, UN systems $114.57 million and India $87.93 million.
-With New Age input
