International lenders and development partners disbursed $3 billion in loans and grants in the fiscal year 2013-14 which is the highest ever foreign aid amount for Bangladesh.
According to the latest data of the Economic Relations Division of the finance ministry, of the total amount disbursed, $2.27 billion was in loans and $72 million in grants.
The ERD data also showed that Bangladesh had paid back $1.23 billion in the last fiscal year in which $20 million was in interest and $1.3 billion in principal amount.
In the 2012-13 fiscal year, the country had received $2.81 billion in foreign loans and grants.
ERD officials said in last fiscal year the commitment for loans and grants was $5.84 billion which was almost same as ($5.85) in the previous fiscal year.
Of the commitment, $5.34 billion was in loans and $49.93 million in grants.
ERD officials said the loan disbursement and commitment were slow during more than half of the fiscal year because of the political unrest surrounding the January 5 national elections.
They said development work slowed down for about six months because of the political unrest in the country.
‘As a result the disbursement and the commitment for foreign loans slowed in the first half of the fiscal year,’ an ERD official told New Age.
He said during the closing months of the fiscal year some big commitments raised the commitment figure which was low in the entire fiscal year.
The ERD data showed that World Bank was the top lender in the 2013-14 which disbursed $94.92 million through its different wings.
Asian Development Bank released $46.91 million, China $46.56 million and Japan released $33.75 million in last fiscal year.
‘This is a good sign that we are getting more loans. But it also means that we have to pay back more,’ Centre for Policy Dialogue executive director Mustafizur Rahman told New Age on Monday.
He said as Bangladesh was getting foreign aid in loans rather than grants, the debt servicing amount would increase.
‘So, to make use of the amount we need to push for getting more loans. And in order to do that we need to ensure quality of work in the foreign-funded projects,’ he said.
-With New Age input
