Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal on Monday called upon the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to provide more development support to help Bangladesh to face the LDC graduation challenges.
Kamal also stressed the need for continuing such strong cooperation between ADB and the government of Bangladesh in attaining the development goals in the coming days.
The minister said this when ADB Executive Director Sameer Kumar Khare met him at his secretariat office, said a finance ministry press release.
Finance Division Senior Secretary Abdur Rouf Talukder, Economic Relations Division (ERD) Secretary Fatima Yasmin, ADB Country Director Edimon Ginting, among others, were present on the occasion.
At the outset of the meeting, Kamal thanked the ADB executive director for extending quick support to Bangladesh in overcoming the adverse impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic.
He apprised the ADB executive director that Bangladesh, under the dynamic and farsighted leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, has been working relentlessly to become a prosperous and developed country by 2041.
The finance minister informed that the government of Bangladesh has been implementing a stimulus package amounting to $22.08 billion (6.23 per cent of GDP) to overcome the negative impacts of the pandemic on the country's economy.
Since 1972, the Manila-based lending agency has extended loans worth $19.7 billion to Bangladesh.
He thanked the authorities of the ADB for providing $1 billion budget support for ensuring quick economic recovery from the pandemic, $100 million support in the Covid-19 Response Emergency Assistance project in the health sector, $940 million support for procuring vaccines apart from extending $9.34 million grant support.
Mentioning that the ADB has been providing support to Bangladesh from the very beginning of the pandemic to ensure social and economic recovery, Sameer said that the ADB would always stand beside Bangladesh in the days to come.
The ADB extends support to Bangladesh in various sectors including power, energy, transport, education, local government, agriculture, water resources, good governance, financial and private zones.
