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Foreign aid commitment to Bangladesh from international development partners has declined by 62 per cent in the first seven months of FY2022-23 year-on-year.
At the same time, foreign aid inflow has also declined by 9 per cent in July-January year-on-year, according to the provisional data of the Economic Relations Division (ERD) released on Wednesday.
The country received a commitment of $1,765.77 million in loans and grants from foreign sources during this period, showed the data. But the amount was $4,698.117 million in the same period in FY2021-22.
On the other hand, major international development partners released $4,259.48 million worth of loans and grants between July and January of FY23. It was $4,690.95 million in the same period in FY22, said ERD data.
ERD officials said foreign aid commitments and disbursements have fallen because of the slow implementation rate of development projects.
They also said that loans for several development projects are pending as the agreements are yet to be signed. This is another reason behind the inflow decline.
Of the total released aid, development partners disbursed $4,047.62 million in loans and $211.86 million in grants in July-January, data said.
During the same period in FY22, the government received $4,534.81 million in loans and $156.14 million in grants from the lenders.
Bangladesh received more than $10 billion in record foreign aid from lenders in FY22.
A senior ERD official told The Business Post that disbursement has declined in the seven months of this fiscal year because funds are stuck in the pipeline.
Loan disbursement will increase further riding on better implementation of projects during the remaining period of FY23, the official added.
In these seven months, the Asian Development Bank disbursed $638.33 million, Japan $1,040.88 million, and the World Bank $695.47 million.
Also, Russia disbursed $463.84 million, China $562.65 million, Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank $328.83 million, India $164.56 million, and others disbursed $364.92 million.
At the same time, the government repaid $1,287.78 million to the development partners. The amount was $1,221.25 million in the same period last fiscal year.
Out of $1,287.78 million, the government repaid $918.91 million as principal of the outstanding loans while $365.87 million as interest.
In the same period of FY22, the government had paid $901.14 million as the principal of the outstanding loans while $320.11 million as interest.
