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Foreign aid inflow to Bangladesh has increased by 47 per cent to $8.4 billion in the first 11 months of the current fiscal year (FY22) when compared to the same period last year thanks to the accelerated implementation of the ongoing development projects.
Major development partners disbursed $8.2 billion in loans and $188.54 million in grants in the July-May period of FY22, a sharp increase from $5.5 billion in loans and $194.14 million in grants received from lenders in the same
period last FY, according to the data from the Economic Relations Division (ERD).
The country also received a significant amount of foreign aid commitments to the tune of $5.9 billion in loans and grants from July to May this fiscal, which was $5.3 billion in the same period last fiscal.
“Bilateral and multilateral development partners such as the Asian Development Bank (ADB), World Bank, Japan International Cooperation Agency, China, and India provide concessional loans every year for development projects, including the mega projects in Bangladesh,” a senior official of ERD told The Business Post.
As funding for budget support and the purchase of Covid vaccines continued during this fiscal year, the country received a record amount of foreign aid.
“The development partners are providing funds to finish ongoing development projects in the country,” he continued, “putting the government in a comfortable position.”
ERD officials hope that the loan disbursements will increase further, riding on better project implementation in the remaining period of the current fiscal.
They added that the disbursement is anticipated to rise by the end of June as the government targeted using $10.8 billion in the current fiscal year.
The foreign fund disbursements amounted to $7.95 billion in FY21 and $7.38 billion in FY20, never before crossing the $8 billion mark, they added.
The Asian Development Bank disbursed $2 billion, Japan $1.77 billion, and the International Development Association (IDA) of the World Bank released $1.5 billion in the first 11 months of this fiscal.
Besides, Russia disbursed $1.1 billion, China $797.31 million, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) $297.49 million, India $225 million, and others disbursed $548.11 million in the July-May period.
From July to May, the government repaid $1.8 billion to the development partners.
Of the figure, the government repaid $1.4 billion as principal and $468.36 million as interest.
The amount was $1.7 billion during the corresponding period last year. During the period last FY, the government repaid $1.2 billion as principal of the outstanding loans and $452.15 million as interest.
