Finance and Commerce Adviser Dr Salehuddin Ahmed on Sunday said that the World Bank (WB) and International Finance Corporation (IFC) will help the interim government to carry out the reform measures for the National Board of Revenue (NBR) and energy and banking sectors.
He shared the development while talking to reporters after a meeting with a delegation of the WB and IFC at the Finance Division conference room at the secretariat in Dhaka.
WB Regional Vice President for South Asia Martin Raiser, South Asia Regional Director Imdad Fakhoury, WB Country Director Abdoulaye Seck and WB Operations Manager for Bangladesh Gayle Martin were present, among others.
Asked what kind of support the government has sought, Salehuddin said, “We have requested them to provide support in some ongoing and future programmes. We will formally convey them about our needs later and talks will be held further.”
“The government sought assistance specifically in areas such as banking sector reforms, bringing back laundered money and tax reforms, including improvements in income tax and VAT collection. The government needs resources to carry out reforms across various economic fronts,” he explained.
The adviser said the government has sought support not only from IFC and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) but also from other development partners. After coordinating with these partners, the government would communicate with the IFC and IMF to avail specific support.
“We will not make any duplication while seeking support from the development partners,” he added.
About the IFC investment, Salehuddin said, “We discussed how they will invest in the public and private sectors including financing and technical support. I will discuss this with them again in October.”
“In short, they have shown a positive attitude towards all matters. However, we need to do some work; there are some conditions that we need to fulfil,” he added.
Asked in which sectors they will assist, the adviser said, "They will provide both financial and technical assistance in the banking sector and NBR reforms. There is something in the energy sector as well. Overall, they will assist us in our economic development and socio-economic development."
When asked if there had been any discussion about the amount of financial assistance, Salehuddin said, "I won't talk about the amount now. After knowing what each donor and other donors will give, we will let you know. We will inform you in due course about what each donor has given, but not now."
He said the government needs resources for carrying out reforms in the economic fronts and other areas. “In this regard, we will collect local resources as much as we can. But, in some cases, we need funding from foreign sources like IMF which provides us balance of support in the revenue sectors alongside the banking sector.”
Regarding Sunday’s meeting with the WB and IFC delegation, he said talks with them were held on possible support in various sectors. Discussion was also held on the issues of broad economic objectives and policy perspectives.
“This was not a technical team… we have told them that we have taken necessary steps to carry out reforms in the banking, revenue and other sectors which would take some time,” he added.
The adviser said the WB team would specifically talk with Bangladesh Bank on foreign exchange market issues, banking sector reforms, and macroeconomic policy. They would also discuss with NBR on reform issues.
He said they would also hold talks with the policymakers of the lending agencies in the upcoming Annual Meetings of the IMF and WB Group in October.
WB Group President Ajay Banga recently said the global lender would provide $3.5 billion to support reform initiatives of Bangladesh’s interim government.
He announced the assistance during a meeting with Chief Adviser Prof Muhammad Yunus on the sidelines of the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly at the UN Headquarters in New York.
Banga, a long-time friend of Yunus, said at least $2 billion would be provided as fresh lending while another $1.5 billion would be repurposed from the existing programmes.
