Muhith hopeful about WB funding 'large projects'

Finance minister AMA Muhith hopes the World Bank will 'forget the bitterness' over Padma Bridge and continue to finance large projects.

"Bangladesh's economy is now prepared for large-scale investments. Those who are now coming to invest here are now coming for large projects. Japan and China have already invested in some.

"After a lot of bitterness, we have started the Padma Bridge project with our own funds. We hope that the World Bank will finance other such projects," he told bdnews24.com at Washington DC on Monday.

The finance minister is leading the Bangladesh delegation at the Annual Meeting of World Bank-IMF in the US, which concluded on Sunday.

The last day of the three-day meeting led to no policy-making discussions, but in a seminar on women empowerment, Bangladesh was mentioned significantly.

WB President Jim Yong Kim congratulated Muhith before the seminar on Bangladesh's achievement in women empowerment.

"Bangladesh's progress on women empowerment is better than some of the developed European nations. Thirty years ago, when I was a minister, women's participation in the economy was only seven percent, but now it is 36 percent," Muhith told reporters after the seminar.

Ninety percent of the four million workers in the readymade garments (RMG) sector are women, who contribute to the largest portion of Bangladesh's export income, said the finance minister.

Bangladesh has progressed a lot on female education in primary and secondary levels, he said.

The World Bank President has congratulated the people of Bangladesh on such achievements.

According to Muhith, the WB is now interested to provide greater assistance for Bangladesh's development.

"Bangladesh's capacity to implement big projects has gone up substantially. That is why the development partners have disbursed more than $3 billion in the last fiscal. $1.4 billion of that came from the World Bank."

The WB Country Assistance Strategy (2011-14) promised $4.5 billion of aid for Bangladesh, which Muhith hopes would increase to $5.6 billion in future.

"This fact proves that there were no adverse impact on World Bank financed projects, despite the Padma Bridge episode. Moreover, the assistance has increased," said the finance minister.

He said the government wants to leave behind the 'hassles' over WB's financing in the Padma Bridge project.

"This is a dead issue. We cannot overlook the fact that the World Bank is our largest development partner. We now want the World Bank to finance our large-scale projects. I hope their response will be positive."

Asked what Bangladesh gained from this year's WB-IMF annual meeting, Muhith said: "The biggest achievement is our success to show that Bangladesh has continued with its economic progress despite all odds including the recent global financial crisis. Everyone now lauds Bangladesh. This is our biggest achievement."