Bangladesh track record breeds confidence it will come out of difficult patch: WB MD

Bangladesh would be able to come out of the difficult patch owing to ongoing global economic situation, visiting World Bank's Managing Director of Operations Anna Bjerde said today (25 February).

"I should say that we are very confident that Bangladesh would come out of this difficult patch especially given that Bangladesh has a very successful track record in reducing poverty and in implementing projects that have helped the population at large," she said.

The World Bank managing director, in her one-day tour to Bangladesh, was talking to reporters after holding a meeting with Finance Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali at his office at the Economic Relations Division (ERD) in the capital's Sher-e-Bangla Nagar area.

Finance Division Secretary Md Khairuzzaman Mozumder, ERD Secretary Md Shahriar Kader Siddiky, World Bank Vice President for the South Asia Region Martin Raiser and World Bank Country Director for Bangladesh and Bhutan Abdoulaye Seck were present, among others, at the meeting.

Anna Bjerde said during the meeting, they focused very much on the need to address inflation which many other countries of the world including Bangladesh are dealing with. 

"We talked about the most important measures in order to address inflation and we can support that through a number of instruments that we have and we're looking forward to going forward to finalizing some of our assessments together in supporting these reforms," she said.

She went on saying, "Other reforms that we talked about are very important in the financial sector and we talked about making sure a strong social protection and a strong social safety net in place with some of these reforms to adjust economic parameters to protect the people who might be the most affected. Overall there was a very good discussion."

Noting that the global economy is going through a very difficult time with crisis coming one after another over the past few years, the World Bank managing director said this has affected the global economy as well as each and every country they work with.

"Bangladesh is not isolated from these challenges. So, this morning we have a very good discussion on our programme, the implementation of our programme which is valued at about $16 billion ranging over 50 projects. But, also discussions were held on the reforms that are needed in order to address the economic situation here in the country," she added.

Emphasising on the current World Bank-Bangladesh partnership, Anna said Bangladesh is the largest client of IDA and both are enjoying many years of fruitful engagements.

Finance Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali said whatever challenges and problems that Bangladesh is now facing are not new while the World Bank has lauded Bangladesh the way the country is facing those.

Ali said that the World Bank delegation lauded the government of Sheikh Hasina for implementing mega projects like metro rail (MRT Line 6), elevated expressway, Bangabandhu Tunnel under River Karnaphuli and adding that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has materialised those considering the present and future benefits of the country's people.

Answering to a question, he said that efforts are on to address the inflationary pressure and also to deal with the foreign currency reserve situation adding, "We'll have to wait as noting can be done overnight. We'll have to manage...adjust..."