Dhaka, Oct 25 Disbursement of financial aid by the World Bank seems unaffected despite complications over the global lender's funding of the Padma bridge project over the last one year.
According to the Economic Relations Division and information from the World Bank, Bangladesh received $180 million as foreign aid from the Bank for various projects in the country in the first quarter (July-September) of the current 2012-13 financial year.
The figure is three-times higher than the amount disbursed during the same period last fiscal.
The Washington-based global lending agency had disbursed $678 million during the same quarter in the 2011-12 fiscal.
Former Caretaker government advisor Akbar Ali Khan said both government and World Bank had been cautious in the recent past over the complications arising with regard to the Padma project funding. "That's why there was no impact on the aid disbursement."
He told bdnews24.com, "It was feared that the World Bank might reduce its pledged aids for other projects after it suspended its promised fund for the Padma bridge. But the government took necessary steps to get the Bank disburse money for those projects committed by the funding agency."
The Senior Economist at the global lender's Dhaka office, Zahid Hossain, told bdnews24.com: "The complications on the Padma bridge project did not affect loan disbursement for other projects in any way. Bangladesh, on the contrary, received more foreign aid during the period."
According to the Ministry of Finance, the World Bank had disbursed $500 million in the 2011-12 fiscal, which was 11 percent more than the previous fiscal (2010-11).
Meanwhile, overall foreign aid also increased this year as other donor countries and agencies disbursed more loans for various projects in the country amid uncertainties over the World Bank funding of the bridge project.
According to the ERD, these donor countries and agencies disbursed aid worth a little over $215 million only in July in 2011-12 fiscal where the amount was only $50 million during the corresponding period previous fiscal.
Donor countries and agencies had disbursed aid worth $2.03 billion over the 2011-12 fiscal, which is 14.41 percent more than what was received in the previous 2010-11 fiscal, $1.78 billion.
Of the aid received, $6.92 million came in as food assistance and the remainder as development aid. The government spent $79 million as payback for previous loans and as a result, the government had only $1.25 billion to spend on development projects.
The government received $1.78 billion in total in the previous fiscal (2010-11), of which $73 million was spent in payback, leaving $1.05 billion to fund developmental initiatives.
Zahid Hossain said disbursement of foreign aids was lower in the beginning of the last fiscal year, but it increased at the end.
"But the loan disbursement rate is very good in the beginning of this fiscal, which will have a positive impact on the development works and overall economy of Bangladesh."
The Washington-based global lender on June 29 had cancelled its pledged $1.2-billion fund, claiming to have found 'credible evidence' of high-level corruption by government officials associated with the $2.9-billion project.
Amid the government's persuasion, the Bank announced revival of the agreement on Sept 20 but said the final decision would be taken based on its inquiry supervision panel's report.
On Oct 1, the Bank said it would send two teams to Dhaka to assess the government's measures to investigate 'corruption' in the project as per their condition.
One of the two panels, formed to oversee the Anti-Corruption Commission probe into the alleged corruption, left Dhaka on Oct 16 after ending its three-day visit.
The second panel will collaborate with the Bank's co-financiers in modifying the project implementation arrangements to ensure greater oversight of procurement process.
ERD Secretary Iqbal Mahmood, however, on Oct 18 said the second World Bank team would arrive in the first week of November to decide strategies for the project's implementation.
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