Commitments of foreign loans and grants declined by 24 per cent in the first eight months of the current fiscal year because of political unrest surrounding the national election and the government’s thorny relations with the international lenders over Padma Bridge scam.
The latest data of the Economic Relations Division showed that the total commitment came down to US$ 2,844 million in February which was US$ 3,780 million in the same period of the previous year.
The ERD data showed of the total commitment in July-February period, US$ 384 million was grant and US$ 2,459 million was loan compared to US$ 595 million grant US$ 3,184 million loan commitment in the same period of the previous year.
The disbursement of loans and grants against the commitment was 41 per cent or US$ 1,827 million in the July-February period which was US$ 148 million higher than the previous year.
Of the disbursed amount, US$ 317.79 million was grant and US$ 1,509.51 was loans.
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 political unrest surrounding the January 5 national elections.
They said Padma bridge corruption allegation and slow utilisation of foreign funds also affected commitments of loans.
‘Things might return to normalcy if the current calmness remains. But the political front is heating up again surrounding the Upazila polls and the violence is also increasing,’ said an ERD official.
He, however, said increase in loan inflow from the previous commitments was a good sign.
The International Development Association, the soft loan window of the World Bank, came out as the top lender in the first eight months by disbursing US$ 668.39 million and Asian Development Bank became second with US$ 347.51 million while Japan International Cooperation Agency disbursed US$ 223.40 million and China disbursed US$ 223.83 million in loans.
In July-February, the government paid US$ 787.87million as principals and interest on previous years’ loans, the data showed. Of the amount, the government repaid US$ 640.48 million in principals while US$ 147.40 million in interest on loans.
-With New Age input
