World Bank Vice President for South Asia, Martin Raiser, concluded his two-day visit to Bangladesh on Tuesday and reaffirmed the World Bank’s continued support to help the country achieve sustainable and inclusive growth.
Raiser visited Bangladesh as part of his current visit to the South Asia Region. He met with the Bangladesh Bank Governor, Energy Minister, Senior Secretary, Ministry of Finance, Secretary, Economic Relations Division, and other senior government officials.
They discussed the World Bank’s new country partnership framework for Bangladesh for fiscal years 2023-27 as well as how the World Bank support can be best utilized to help Bangladesh navigate the global uncertainties and increasing climate change impacts.
Raiser urged speeding up the pace of implementation of the World Bank-supported projects.
“Bangladesh faces continued external pressures, which require careful macroeconomic management, but also a deepening of structural reforms to attract more private investment, boost jobs and strengthen resilience against climate shocks,” said Raiser. “We stand ready to redouble our support under our new country strategy and accelerated implementation of our large existing portfolio.”
The World Bank and Bangladesh on Tuesday signed a $191 million financing to strengthen the higher education sector and respond better to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Higher Education Acceleration Transformation Project will support regional and global collaboration, research and innovation in higher education. It will help more women access quality tertiary education.
Sharifa Khan, Secretary, Economic Relations Division, Government of Bangladesh and Abdoulaye Seck, World Bank Country Director for Bangladesh and Bhutan signed on behalf of Bangladesh and the World Bank, respectively, in presence of Raiser.
The loan is repayable in 30 years with a grace period of 05 years. Service charge is O.75 percent and the interest rate is 1.25 percent per annum on the loan withdrawal balance of SDR-denominated loan.
Commitment fee is up to 0.50 percent. However the World Bank has been waiving commitment fees for a long time including the present fiscal year.
The main objectives of the project are strengthening the COVID-19 response in higher education, improving connectivity and quality of higher education for women, to enhance higher education's governance, resilience to emergencies and graduate employability.
The main activities under this project are strengthening the market relevance of higher education programs, improving the Governance and Quality of the Higher Education Sector, to improve connectivity across national research and education networks, arranging training and research facilities for the teachers, building training academy, setting up Academic Complex for Asian Women University and establishing regional Network among Women's Higher Education institutions and universities.
