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ADB is toughening lending to government |
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September 25, 2000
Dhaka (UNB)- The Asian Development Bank is toughening lending to government for lack of efficient utilization and giving more focus on nursing up a dynamic private sector that is crucial to rapid economic growth. The Bank’s resident representative, Phiphit Suphaphiphat, focused on the donor’s policy shift while speaking at monthly luncheon meeting of the Foreign Investors’ Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) here yesterday (Sunday). “Support for the development of private sector is thus an essential part of ADB’s new Poverty Reduction Strategy,” he told his business audience. FICCI president Waliur Rahman Bhuiyan also spoke on the occasion highlighting “inefficient” service delivery by a top-heavy administration for want of necessary reforms. The ADB mission chief elaborated on the Bank’s new private sector development (PSD) strategy to further promote private sector-led growth and strengthen the sector’s contribution to poverty reduction. He said Bangladesh needs a vibrant private sector to meet the higher investment requirements to cover up the decline in official development assistance and to absorb 3 million people coming every year in Bangladesh’s job market. Speaking of ADB’s new dynamics of lending operations that make lending to Bangladesh a bit tougher, costlier and conditional, he said the country would have to improve its macroeconomic management, governance and aid implementation to have access to concession credits from Asian Development Bank in future. “The size of assistance will be guided in new policy of performance-based lending.” Besides, Bangladesh’s borrowing from ADB will become costlier, he added. |