Govt targets $4.36 billion from donors with big projects underway

With several big projects ongoing in Bangladesh, the government is eyeing to get ‘huge allocations’ from donors.

Zafar Ahmedbdnews24.com
Published : 8 Oct 2015, 03:39 PM
Updated : 8 Oct 2015, 07:37 PM

According to data recently released by the Economic Relations Division (ERD), the government has set a target of getting $4.36 billion from various donors in 2015-16 -- the highest in Bangladesh's history.
 
The amount is $1.01 billion more than 2014-15 fiscal year’s target of $3.35 billion.
 
On the other hand, the target for making the donors commit financial aids has been slightly reduced to $5.738 billion.
 
World Bank Dhaka office’s lead economist Zahid Hussain thinks it was a challenge for the government to fulfil the target.
 
He said release of money by the donors depended on implementation of projects.
 
The disbursement slows down as the implementation of projects in Bangladesh is sluggish.
 
According to him, the disbursement target in the current fiscal year is about 20 percent of the money stuck in the pipeline. Bangladesh could get 15 to 16 percent of such allocation.
 
“Clearance of foreign money is basically linked to implementation of projects. The achievement of the target will depend on implementation of the big projects,” Hussain said.
 
He said the World Bank did not have a ‘good’ experience in this regard in the past.
 

He sees bureaucratic complexities in the government and irregularities and lack of transparency in purchase as challenge.
Apart from building the Padma Bridge with domestic fund, projects like the metro-rail, elevated expressway, Matarbarhi and Rampal power plants, and upgrade of Dhaka-Chittagong Highway to four lanes are underway.
An ERD official told bdnews24.com the government was under pressure, as the amount of money stuck in the pipeline increased to around Tk 22 billion.
The government is giving more importance to disbursement than getting commitments.
It set a target to get commitments of $6.05 billion from the donors in 2014-15 fiscal year but made the donors commit $5.21 billion.

In line with latest ERD data, the World Bank topped the list of donors Bangladesh had been targeting to get the money from. The goal is to get disbursement of $1.25 billion from the global lender.
 
It was $ 950 million in 2014-15 fiscal. Bangladesh got around $ 1 billion cleared from the World Bank in that fiscal year.
 
From Asian Development Bank (ADB), Bangladesh hopes to get $ 960 million disbursed this fiscal year. Last financial year’s target was $ 610 million.
 
Besides the World Bank and the ADB, the government wants Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) to disburse $ 490 million.  
 
The World Bank also topped the list of donors from whom Bangladesh is eyeing to get aid commitments.
 
The government wants the Washington-based agency to commit around $1.62 billion. The target was $ 1.877 billion in last fiscal year.
 
The commitment target for ADB rose from last year’s $997 million to $1.39 billion this year.
 
The goal for JICA and other donors in Asia and Europe, however, lowered.
 
For JICA, it is $ 1.127 billion, which was $ 1.186 billion in the last financial year.