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The South Korean Exim Bank will provide $700 million as project assistance to Bangladesh for the implementation of various infrastructure development projects.
A ‘framework arrangement’ was signed on Sunday between the Economic Relations Division under the Finance Ministry and government of the Republic of South Korea to provide soft loans worth $700 million for the period 2021-2025, said a press release said.
Ambassador Lee Jang-Keun of the Republic of Korea and Secretary Fatima Yasmin of the Economic Relations Division signed the framework arrangement, which is expected to be disbursed between the year 2021 to 2025. Officials from the Korean Embassy in Dhaka, the Exim Bank and ERD were present on this occasion, said the release.
Under this framework arrangement, the Korean government will provide financial assistance to implement several projects in the next five years.
Loan agreements include $ 100 million for Sustainable Economic Recovery Program (Subprogram1)” under the Finance Division, $ 51 million for “Procurement of CNG Single Decker AC Buses for BRTC” project under the Road Transport and Highways Division and $ 25 million for “Establishment of a Modern International Training Institute for Dhaka WASA” project under the Local Government Division.
Important projects like “Construction of Railway-cum-Road Bridges across the River Karnaphuli at Kalurghat, Chittagong” and “Establishment of a multi-disciplinary and Super Specialized Hospital at BSMMU (2nd Phase)” are also expected to be implemented under this framework arrangement.
The loan agreements to be signed under this framework arrangement will bear the interest rate of 0.01 per cent to 0.05 per cent with 40 years repayment period and 15 years grace period.
Korea has been providing soft loans through the Economic Development Cooperation Fund for the development of socio-economic, infrastructure and ICT sectors in Bangladesh since 1997.
