Bangladesh to get $100m WB credit to strengthen public financial management
The action plan aims to improve fiscal forecasting, public budget preparation and execution, as well as enhance financial reporting and transparency.
The government signed a $100 million financial agreement with the World Bank (WB) to support the Public Financial Management (PFM) Action Plan 2016-2021.
The action plan aims to improve fiscal forecasting, public budget preparation and execution, as well as enhance financial reporting and transparency.
“The government is committed to further strengthen the PFM system and ensure transparency and accountability,” said Economic Relations Division (ERD) Secretary Monowar Ahmed at the signing ceremony on Thursday at the ERD office in Dhaka.
World Bank Acting Country Director for Bangladesh and Bhutan Dandan Chen, at the ceremony, said: “The program will build on the successes of the government’s ongoing efforts to help public agencies strengthen oversight and improve availability of public resources.”
According to the WB, the program will help Bangladesh address the bottlenecks in public resource allocation and aims to reduce the time taken to release funds from departments to frontline service delivery units by more than half.
The $100 million WB credit has a 30-year term including a five-year grace period and carries a service charge of 0.75 percent and an interest of 1.25 percent.
Since independence, Bangladesh has received over $30 billion from the WB -- mostly in grants and interest-free credit. Currently, the country has the largest International Development Association (IDA) program of the WB, totaling $12.6 billion.