Foreign aid inflow up 48% in July

Foreign aid inflow to Bangladesh surged by 48 per cent to $488 million in July of FY23 year-on-year, thanks to the ongoing implementation of development projects.

Major international development partners released $488.04 million in loans and grants in the month, which was $328.66 million in the same period a year ago, according to the latest data from the Economic Relations Division (ERD).

Of the total amount, the development partners disbursed $478.92 million in loans and $9.12 million in grants, the ERD data shows.

In the same period of the previous fiscal year, the government received $317.26 million in loans and $11.4 million in grants from the lenders.

The ADB disbursed $63.79 million, JICA $200 million, and the World Bank $22.25 million in the first month of the current fiscal year.

Besides, Russia disbursed $4.11 million, China $102.26 million, India $58.52 million, and others $36 million in that month.

The country also received a significant amount of foreign aid commitment to the tune of $1.53 million in grants in July of this fiscal year, the ERD data shows. This figure was $9.58 million in the same period of FY22.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh received a record foreign aid, more than $10 billion, from the lenders in FY22. A senior ERD official told The Business Post the bilateral and multilateral development partners, such as the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the World Bank, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), China, and India, provide concessional loans every year for the development of Bangladesh.

“We have received a record foreign aid in the last fiscal year. The government is in a comfortable situation as development partners are disbursing funds for completing the ongoing development projects in the country,” he said. ERD officials said loan disbursement would increase further riding on better implementation of projects during the remaining period of this fiscal year.

In July of FY23, the government repaid the development partners $179.02 million. Of this, the government repaid $114.34 million in principal of the outstanding loans and $64.68 million in interest. In July of the last fiscal year, the government repaid $128.16 million in principal of the outstanding loans and $56.95 million in interest.