The Economic Relations Division is set to launch an online-based foreign loans and grants information management system for ensuring transparency and accountability in foreign fund management through tracking and processing information related to loan and grant flow to the country, officials said. The system known as aid information management system will also help enhance effectiveness in uses of foreign loans and grants as it will strengthen the monitoring mechanism of overall loan flow including commitment, disbursement, expenditure and outcome of development activities, they said.
Under the system, the ERD will also monitor foreign fund flow to non-government organisations for ensuring transparency and accountability of the NGOs in expenditures of the loans and grants.
Currently, there is no mechanism of tracking loan flow to the NGOs that creates room for misuse of foreign loans and grants.
AIMS — a web-based software application — will be launched on October 26, an ERD official told New Age on Sunday.
He said that AIMS would contain project-level information on commitments, disbursement, expenditures and results by the development partners and project implementing agencies.
All stakeholders including mass people will get access to the information regarding loans and grants inflow and their uses, he said adding that the development partners would update their loans and grants commitments and disbursements to the government, civil society organisations and NGOs regularly.
As a lead organisation of the government for negotiating with the development partners to mobilise external resources, the ERD does not have any effective mechanism to track and process the foreign loans and grants flow to sectors and geographic locations.
In absence of comprehensive data, the government faces problems in incorporating foreign fund flow into the national budget and taking projects with foreign loans and grants following countries priorities, officials said.
In the most cases, donors give loans and grants in projects on their own choices instead of the government’s priorities, they said.
In absence of the ERD monitoring and coordination on loans and grants flow to the NGOs, several NGOs take similar projects in same areas causing waste of foreign fund, they said.
The government also often takes similar development projects in the same area the NGOs are working as the government does not know in which sectors NGOs are working there, they said.
After the launch of the system, the government will be able to say in which sectors, areas and geographic locations it needs more loans and grants and to negotiate with the donors in line with its priorities, they said.
They said that AIMS would provide a common information sharing platform for the government and development partners to improve loan coordination, increase loan transparency, accountability and align foreign assistance with the country’s priorities.
Development partners have already started entering data on their ongoing projects in the system that is being run on trial basis.
In the system, all basic information related to projects, funding information, contribution to sectors, geographic contribution and loan effectiveness indicators will be available.
-With New Age input
