Google Alert – Bangladesh Army
The standing committee on non-concessional loan approved seven hard-term loans worth US$1.44 billion at its meeting on Wednesday, officials said.
This is the largest amount of hard-term loans, approved by the committee in one sitting, within the tenure of this interim government, they said.
Chaired by Finance Advisor Dr Salehuddin Ahmed, the committee in Dhaka approved the loans from the Asian Development Bank, European Investment Bank (EIB), Islamic Development Bank and Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), Economic Relations Division officials said.
Of them, the three fresh loans from ADB accounted for $649 million.
According to ERD, the ADB would provide $508 million for the Chattogram-Dohazari railway line project, $50 million for the Khulna WASA, and $91 million for expansion of the distribution network of NESCO from its non-concessional window — Ordinary Capital Resources (OCR) and which is market-based credit.
On the other hand, the AIIB will provide $400 million budget support, EIB will extend Euro 90 million for Sayedabad water treatment plant and Euro 70 million for the Dhaka Environmentally Sustainable Water Supply (Dhaka WASA) project.
Moreover, the IDB will provide $231 million in loan for construction of five climate-resilient bridges in Mymensingh which is also a market-based loan.
The external loans are usually market-based and their maturity period is shorter.
The Standing Committee on Non-Concessional Loans of the Bangladesh government is responsible for approving and overseeing non-concessional loans (or “hard-term loans”) required by the government and its entities, often for much-needed imports like fuel and projects for building power infrastructure when concessional financing isn’t available.