After a 2.5% first-quarter decline on the MSCI frontier index as the only losing Asian component, Bangladesh shares continued to be shunned by foreign investors on the headline Rohingya refugee influx now at 800,000, and banking sector balance sheet and management woes with bad loans at 10% of the total. Elections are also due this year with the opposition party leader unable to compete under corruption charges, and sporadic street violence erupting among rival political camps amid Islamist terror threats and military takeover rumors. The fifth anniversary of the Rana Plaza garment center collapse, which injured and killed thousands, also focused attention on unresolved worker safety issues in the mainstay export industry, as remittances from abroad remain uncertain with renewed local e...
The government today signed two financing agreements totaling $ 515 million with the World Bank (WB) to help expand electricity transmission network and improve insurance coverage.
The agreements were signed by Economic Relations Division (ERD) Additional Secretary Mahmuda Begum and World Bank Country Director Qimiao Fan on behalf of the government of Bangladesh and the World Bank, respectively, at the ERD.
The $450 million Enhancement and Strengthening of Power Transmission Network in Eastern
Region Project will improve reliable ele...
Bangladesh and India signed an agreement here on Monday on their proposed 129.5 km oil pipeline aimed at pumping Indian oil to Bangladesh with a capacity of 1 million tonnes per annum.
The deal was part of the six memorandum of understandings (MoUs) which Dhaka and New Delhi signed during a meeting between their Foreign Secretaries at State Guesthouse Padma in the capital, Xinhua news agency reported.
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The World Bank approved $560 million for two projects in Bangladesh to improve reliable power supply and help micro enterprises become environmentally sustainable.
“The World Bank is helping Bangladesh overcome barriers to higher growth. Unreliable power supply and environmentally-unstainable enterprises hinder a county’s competitiveness and poverty reduction efforts,” said Zahid Hussain, World Bank Acting Country Director for Bangladesh.
“By improving electricity transmission and helping in micro-enterprises adopt environment-friendly technologies, these projects will help Bangladesh achieve sustainable growth and advance towards upper middle-income country vision.”
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The World Bank has shown their interests to finance the Bus Rapid Transport (BRT) project, designed for quick transportation between Gazipur and Dhaka Airport which would take only 20 minutes.
Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader said this to reporters after a meeting with the World Bank representative led by acting World Bank country director Rajsree Palongkar at the conference room of his office in Dhaka on Sunday.
“We have asked the concerned authority to start the project work soon as the World Bank is
World Bank President Jim Yong Kim today declared an additional USD 1 billion fund for Bangladesh to develop childcare in the country.
The financing will be disbursed in the next two years and will be to develop the situation of child health and nutrition, the visiting WB chief said in a briefing.
Kim made the announcement at a joint press conference after holding talks with Bangladesh Finance Minister AMA Muhith at his ministry office in Dhaka.
‘PADMA BRIDGE TROUBLES OVER’
Finance Minister M...
