IBFB concerned over unutilized foreign aid funds

Hafizur Rahman Khan, President of International Business Forum of Bangladesh (IBFB), in a press release, said IBFB is very much concerned over huge amount of unutilized funds of foreign aids that has been remaining in the pipeline for a few years.

Hafizur Rahman Khan
IBFB President

As recently reported by a renowned national newspaper, an amount of USD 19 Billion equivalent to BDT 1 Lac 48 Thousand 200 Crore, maximum of which is for various development projects, allotted for Bangladesh by different donor countries and institutions has been remaining in the pipeline as the Government could not utilize the funds. According to the experts, the main reason behind this is the lack of administrative capacity of the Government. Although there are also some other contributory reasons like inadequate capacity in negotiation, inability to complete procurement process within the timeframe, land disputes etc.

Whatever be the reasons, IBFB strongly believes that strong and sustainable measures must be immediately taken to improve the scenario. Around BDT 1 Lac 25 Crore is lying idle within the banking system as the trend of domestic investment has significantly reduced in the country. The local investors are rather pursuing the Government for allowing Bangladeshi entrepreneurs to invest abroad, especially in countries. Under such circumstances, the incapacity of the Government to spend and properly utilize such huge amount of foreign aids is rather contrary to the vision of transforming Bangladesh into a developed country by 2041.

IBFB believes that the Govt. will immediately take proactive measures to properly negotiate with respective donor countries and institutions to disburse all funds allotted for different development projects and at the same time improve the capacity of the bureaucracy and also reduce other contributory reasons mentioned above to adequately utilize the funds.


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