Hasina seeks soft loans from development partners until the global economy normalises

The support is necessary to overcome the economic crisis stemming from the Russia-Ukraine war

News Deskbdnews24.com
Published : 14 March 2023, 08:43 AM
Updated : 14 March 2023, 08:43 AM

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has urged Bangladesh's development partners to focus on giving soft loans until the world economy returns to normal by overcoming the economic crisis stemming from the Russia-Ukraine war, state news agency BSS reports.

"It is necessary to continue giving soft loans till the global economy goes back to normalcy. The organisations and the developed countries would have to give special focus on it," she said while addressing an event marking the golden jubilee of the Bangladesh-Asian Development Bank partnership in Dhaka on Tuesday.

She expressed her grave concern over the trend of increasing interest rates against loans by the development partners, even during the global crisis over the Russia-Ukraine war, economic sanctions and counter-sanctions, which in most cases make their financing of development projects ineffective, the state news agency said.

"We don't want kindness from anyone, rather we want our due rights from the global partners," Hasina said.

The prime minister also hit out at the imposition of various 'unnecessary' restrictions by business partners, saying: "They (restrictions) put our economies in danger".

In the current global context, she urged the International Monetary Fund to come up with flexible and innovative financing to accelerate skill, health, ICT, infrastructure development, climate change and human resource development.

However, the prime minister thanked the ADB for supporting Bangladesh in its time of need, saying the organisation's cooperation has increased three times in the decade and a half since the Awami League came to power in 2009.

"We are seeing with pleasure that the ADB always stands beside Bangladesh in our bad times with innovative financing and technological support," she added.

The premier recalled with gratitude that the ADB gave $2.29 billion in support during the COVID-19 pandemic to deal with health emergencies and $230 million to overcome the damages from the floods in Bangladesh's northwest.