‘Relations with WB to reach a new height’

World Bank (WB) President’s visit to Dhaka will embark a new and even stronger relation between the country and the bank, said Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith.  


 "This will be a great occasion for us and we hope this visit will take our relations with the World Bank to a new height," he said, reports BSS.

Jim Yong Kim, the WB group president, is scheduled to arrive in Dhaka on October 16 to participate in high-level talks, highlight Bangladesh`s progress toward ending extreme poverty and commemorate End Poverty Day.

During the visit of the WB top brass, Bangladesh and its people will receive global recognition on October 17 for dramatically reducing poverty when the World Bank Group marks the End Poverty Day aiming to alleviating extreme poverty by 2030, WB said in a web posting.

It further said that Bangladesh economy has grown around 6 per cent a year since 2000, helping over 200 million people to get rid of the extreme poverty.

Referring to the economic development, the finance minister said the country would continue to receive higher assistance from the World Bank through its concessional window - International Development Assistance (IDA).

"We are expecting to get a fresh commitment of $75 billion IDA assistance, which will be much higher than the current commitment of $52.1 billion," Muhith said.

He, however, said that the country would get $1.2 billion in grants this year from the WB in place of its earlier commitment of $1.8 billion.

"The grants will decline as we have not decided yet about a big road infrastructure project because it requires further study," the minister said, noting that the lower grant would not harm implementation of any other development projects.

The minister attended the annual meeting of the World Bank (WB) Group and International Monetary Fund (IMF)-2016, held from October 6 to 9 in Washington DC.

Referring to the discussion at the group meeting, he said the major issue was the Annual Development Programme (ADP) and there was no problem unresolved.

"We have resolved all issues with the World Bank and hope further progress in the coming days," he said.