Bangladesh will receive $4.25 billion foreign funds from several development partners who have committed this in Bangladesh Development Forum (BDF) conference, Finance Minister AKH Mustafa Kamal said.
The Finance Minister came up with the statement while exchanging views with reporters at the finance minister's office in Sher-e-Bangla in the city on Sunday.
Out of this amount, $1.2 billion is being pledged to tackle the effects of climate change over the next five years with several development partners, he informed.
On the other hand, the World Bank recently assured $350 million in additional funding in new projects and also continued support to existing two projects including Rohingya and local people, he said.
These funds will be used to improve the living standards of the Rohingya people who are in Bangladesh and of the the local population around the Rohingya camp.
In addition, JICA will give a loan of $ 2.7 billion to implement six projects in the country, he added.
Earlier, the Finance Minister said on the occasion of BDF conference this year, “We are going to graduate into a developing country from underdeveloped country. Hence, there is some pressure for foregoing some facilities from the developed partners, but it is good news for us as we are developing day by day.”
“The government shared the broader strategies of the upcoming 8th Five Year Plan with the development partners and other major actors during the forum organised by the Economic Relations Division (ERD).
The Finance Minister said, “Private investment in the country now is showing at a low level. We are creating 100 economic zones, which will help investors to get more benefits as the government has declared many offers for investing there.”
Hence, investors can get this opportunity with win-win situation, he added.
He said Bangladesh will soon become an upper middle income country, as the government has been implementing massive development projects in light of the “Vision 2021” and “Vision 2041”.
“We are ahead of many countries in the world in achieving GDP growth in the last 10 years. In 2024, Bangladesh will outgrow many countries, including Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia,” he added.
“We are moving forward following our motto—nobody lags behind. Digital Bangladesh is not only a slogan for us but our people are getting the benefit out of it,” he said.
Highlighting government’s development initiatives, he said: “We have announced “Vision 2021” aimed at making Bangladesh a middle income country, free from hunger and poverty by ensuring economic improvement through creating employment.”
About the progress of the country, he said, “We have to fund many plans and implement them to build a developed country.”
Referring to the draft 8th Five Year Plan, the Finance Minister said the plan projected to raise the GDP growth to 8.51 percent in FY25 from 8.23 percent in FY20 while the poverty rate is expected to come down to 12.1 percent in FY25 as well as the extreme poverty rate to 5.28 percent.
Besides, he said the plan eyes on generating some 10.5 million employments both at home and abroad while efforts will be there to raise the tax-GDP ratio to 15 percent.
