The World Bank has been continuing support to Bangladesh for achieving its vision of upper-middle income status by 2031.
In the current fiscal 2023-24, the World Bank has already signed three soft loan agreements worth $800 million with Bangladesh to support growth, regional connectivity, education and health.
The partnership has helped lift millions of Bangladeshis out of poverty and supported the country’s economic growth and development, the World Bank said.
Bangladesh has made enormous strides in the past 50 years – from one of the poorest nations at birth, it is now one of the fastest-growing economies, it added.
Since its independence in 1971, Bangladesh has transformed from one of the poorest countries to achieving lower-middle income status in 2015, it mentioned.
On Thursday, the World Bank approved $200 million to help Bangladesh improve primary healthcare services for treatment, prevention and referral for common illnesses including mosquito-borne diseases like dengue, and medical waste management in Dhaka North and South City Corporations, Chattogram City Corporation, and Savar and Tarabo municipalities.
The Urban Health, Nutrition and Population Project will establish a network of primary health centers offering a broad range of health, nutrition, and population services along with a direct referral system with secondary and tertiary-level facilities. About 2.5 million children under 5 in these urban areas will receive services.
“Bangladesh has made remarkable progress in improving healthcare, particularly in rural areas,” said Abdoulaye Seck, World Bank Country Director for Bangladesh and Bhutan. “But urban areas have limited public healthcare facilities. Hence, poor people and slum dwellers are often forced to turn to more expensive private healthcare. Further, with high population density, climate change, and rapid urbanization, new health challenges are emerging, including an increase of dengue cases, infectious and non-communicable diseases.”
On Sunday, the government of Bangladesh and the World Bank signed a $300 million financing agreement to equip about 900,000 economically disengaged rural youth with skills and alternative education needed for employment and entrepreneurship. About 60 percent of them will be female.
The Economic Acceleration and Resilience for NEET (EARN) Project will help overcome barriers that prevent disadvantaged and vulnerable youth from gaining education and employment.
It will provide skills training, alternative education, employment, and entrepreneurial support to rural youth who are not in education, employment, or training (NEET).
The project will establish vocational training centers to offer a range of skills development opportunities and provide online and offline training courses in market-driven and futuristic trades.
They will be in locations convenient to rural youth, especially females. It will also offer competitive financing and mentorship support for entrepreneurial activities. It will help secondary school dropouts, particularly female students to complete vocational secondary education.
“The youth are the future of any country. Creating a well-equipped competitive workforce, where no young person is excluded, is a critical development priority for Bangladesh,” said the World Bank Country Director. “The project will help develop a competitive workforce through skill development, continuity of education, and employment opportunities while addressing underlying cultural and social norms that drive exclusion, particularly for women, people with disabilities, and ethnic minorities.”
On 28 July, the World Bank approved $300 million to help Bangladesh improve the efficiency of gas distribution and end-use through prepaid metering systems for residential and industrial consumers and reduce methane emissions along the natural gas value chain.
The Gas Sector Efficiency Improvement and Carbon Abatement Project will address natural gas leakage and losses along the gas transmission and distribution network, reduce wastage in use by residential and industrial users, and strengthen network monitoring capabilities. It will install more than 1.2 million prepaid gas meters in Dhaka and Rajshahi Division. Among these, 1.1 million prepaid meters will be deployed in Greater Dhaka covering 54 percent of residential customers of Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Company Limited, and 128,000 prepaid meters in Rajshahi division, covering the entire residential customer base of Pashchimanchal Gas Company Limited (PGCL). It will also pilot rolling out about 50 smart meters to larger industrial users to demonstrate the viability of smart meters to better monitor and manage gas use in the industrial sector.
“Improving energy efficiency will be important for Bangladesh to achieve its 2021 Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) commitment of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 2030,” said Seck. “The project will help cut down natural gas wastage in households and industries and reduce fugitive methane emissions in gas pipelines, which are often caused by leaks from gas production, processing, transmission, and distribution.”
The credit is from the World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA), which provides concessional financing, and has a 30-year term with a five-year grace period.
The World Bank was among the first development partners to support Bangladesh. In its 50-year partnership with Bangladesh, the World Bank has committed about $40 billion in grants, interest-free and concessional credits to the country. Currently, Bangladesh has the largest IDA program in the world with a total of $15.9 billion commitment to 54 ongoing projects.
