United News of Bangladesh

The World Bank has assured Bangladesh of continuing its assistance in ongoing projects along with the budgetary support. “It (World Bank) has expressed its satisfaction over the overall economic situation of the country,” Finance Adviser Salehuddin Ahmed told reporters after holding a meeting with World Bank’s visiting new Vice President for the South Asia Region, Johannes Zutt at his office in the secretariat. He said that Zutt appreciated Bangladesh’s advancement although it went through a very tough situation in the past one year. “We are very much happy to see the progress of financial sector, balance of payment, foreign exchange sector, all is going well,” the finance adviser quoted the World Bank official as saying. He also mentioned that Zutt put emphasis on revamping the private sector, its development, and enhancement of the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the country. He said that Bangladesh is doing well overall comparing to the other countries of the world. The adviser said Zutt recalled his past role as the country director of the World Bank here 15 years ago and pointed out that since then Bangladesh has gained remarkable changes, especially in physical structure such as metro rail. “The World Bank will provide all kinds of support needed for Bangladesh,” the adviser quoted the VP of the Washington-based lender as saying. Responding to a question, Salehuddin said that World Bank is happy about the reforms that are going on in Bangladesh. Zutt, he said, appreciated central bank’s initiative for restructuring the banking sector. “The macroeconomic situation of the country is on the right track,” he quoted the WB official as saying. Regarding the US Tariff issue, the adviser said that the commerce adviser brief about the outcome of the negotiations on his return home from Washington. “He will inform us in which area we need to adjust our tariff, there is a tax policy and other issues involved in this matter, we will look into the matter,” he said. The issues relating to the operations of the IFC were also discussed in the meeting. Answering to a question, the finance adviser said that the interim government has availed whatever support it had sought from the World Bank. He informed that the next cycle of expected support would be raised in the upcoming Annual Meetings of the World Bank-IMF Group in October. Replying to another question,  Salehuddin said that the World Bank is happy over the reform initiatives in the financial sector including in the NBR. There were also discussions over the Chattogram Port, container terminal at Laldia, he said adding that they would extend support in the infrastructural sector. The WB vice president arrived in Dhaka on Saturday.

The World Bank said Wednesday it approved over $1 billion dollars for infrastructure and reconstruction projects in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon. The biggest amount went to Iraq, where the World Bank approved $930 million to help improve the country’s railway infrastructure, boost domestic trade, create jobs and diversify the economy. The World Bank said the Iraq Railways Extension and Modernization Project will improve services and increase freight capacity between the Umm Qasr Port on the Persian gulf in southern Iraq to the northern city of Mosul. “As Iraq shifts from reconstruction to development, enhanced trade and connectivity can stimulate growth, create jobs, and reduce oil dependency," said Jean-Christophe Carret, director of the World Bank's Middle East division. Gulf states on high alert following US strikes on Iran The World Bank also approved for war-torn Syria a $146 million grant to help restore reliable, affordable electricity and support the country’s economic recovery. It said the Syria Electricity Emergency Project will rehabilitate damaged transmission lines and transformer substations. Last month Syria signed an agreement with a consortium of Qatari, Turkish and US companies for the development of a 5,000-megawatt energy project to revitalize much of its war-battered electricity grid. For Lebanon, which is recovering from the 14-month Israel-Hezbollah war, the World Bank approved $250 million to support the most urgent repair and reconstruction of damaged critical public infrastructure and lifeline services.