ADB –a trusted development partner

The Asian Development Bank continues to be a trusted partner of Bangladesh offering financial assistance in undertaking macro level development projects aimed at boosting the economy of the country.

The legacy of partnership goes back to 1973 when the prestigious organisation set up an office in Dhaka to help the nascent county address multifaceted problems. In those early years it contributed to critical economic and governance reforms.

ADB has taken into cognizance how Bangladesh has made impressive socioeconomic progress with steady growth of its GDP and a decrease in overall rates of poverty. The bank was impressed by the success of the country in achieving most targets of the first Millennium Development Goals (MDG).

 It is good to learn that ADB has launched a new country partnership strategy (CPS) for Bangladesh that aims to enhance competitiveness, promote green growth and address the ravages of climate. The CPS for 2021–2025 will help Bangladesh realize its dream of joining the ranks of the upper-middle-income country by 2031. ADB will help in ensuring increased public and private investments in the next five years and support rapid socioeconomic recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic. The bank will increase its lending portfolio to about $12 billion, which used to be $9.6 billion in the past five years.

The bank observed that steady growth of its economy and need-based policy measures have helped Bangladesh achieve impressive results. At the same time, it commented that Bangladesh needs to take up policy to diversify its industry and expand its export base. It was further observed that Bangladesh needs to improve its business climate, improve infrastructure, land shortages, climate change impacts, and unplanned urbanisation.

ADB sources provide the information that the bank’s assistance helped Bangladesh improve security, efficiency and trade of energy; expand and develop road and rail networks; enhanced education quality and access; boosted and diversified agriculture, and improved rural connectivity. It further said that ADB looks forward to working with Bangladesh to improve infrastructure, skills, water management and flood controls, and promote public-private partnership, private sector development and private sector financing.

The bank has given due emphasis on diversification of manufacturing and export items, such as agricultural products, information and communication technology, light engineering, and pharmaceuticals. ADB looks forward to expanding its private sector operations in Bangladesh and co-financing with other development partners. The other important areas that need to be addressed are improving the banking sector, the ease of doing business, business environment, and investment climate to help accelerate private sector development.

The bank envisages taking a holistic approach to integrate climate change, while expanding programmes to directly address climate change impacts through integrated management of water, river, and coastal areas. The bank’s support in reducing poverty will continue through undertaking actions to reduce inequality and poverty under the government’s social protection programme ensuring more equitable rural and regional development, investments in low-cost housing and basic services including quality health and education for the poor. This may be mentioned that Bangladesh aims to reduce poverty from 20.5 per cent to 15.6 per cent and extreme poverty from 10.5 per cent to 7.4 per cent of its population in the next five years.

 The new ADB strategy was prepared in close coordination with the government to support the implementation of its Eighth Five-Year Plan, which aims to address the need for higher resource mobilization, diversification of manufacturing and exports, and sustainable urbanization.

It is worth mentioning that ADB has supported Bangladesh’s response against the Covid-19 pandemic with a $940 million loan for vaccine procurement under the Asia Pacific Vaccine Access Facility and other initiatives. Bangladesh is also one of the largest recipients of concessional Asian Development Fund resources. ADB has been the second-largest source of development financing, and one of the lead financiers in energy, transport, education, water supply and sanitation, agriculture and natural resources, and finance sectors of Bangladesh.

 The assistance of $12b will help Bangladesh bring qualitative changes to many sectors to lift its socio-economic status to the desired level when the country will become eligible to get the tag of a middle-income country in 2031.