Kazi Zahidul Hasan :
Development analysts on Saturday welcomed the Bangladesh’s move of joining the proposed Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) saying that the initiative will give the country an alternative funding sources.
Previously the sources of loan were only the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank (WB) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Islamic Development Bank (IDB).
“It’s a good move and once the bank comes with full-fledged operation next year, it will be diversified the funding door helping third world countries like Bangladesh in implementing their development projects,” Dr Zaid Bakht, a development analyst, told The New Nation on Saturday.
He said, as Bangladesh needs billions of dollars in investment every year to develop its infrastructure, the proposed bank could be a good option for the country which now concentrates on IMF, WB and ADB. “The existing multilateral lenders tag lots of conditions with their funds and charge high interest rates putting burden on the nation,” said Zaid Bakht, adding, “If the AIIB initiative succeeds, we are hopeful of getting more soft and concessional loans from the bank.
He further said that being a proud founding member of the bank, Bangladesh would establish its rights to get various facilities. “Since it is a regional bank, it will give priority to the regional countries for development of their economy. It will create the option to get loans to implement power projects and fuel import funding.
Dr Zaid Bakht, who is also researcher of the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS), however, said that apart from the new regional bank, Bangladesh should also take the support from the existing global and regional lenders to fulfil its development needs.
Praising the move, Dr Salehuddin Ahmed, former Bangladesh Bank (BB) governor said, “It has created an opportunity for Bangladesh to get alternative sources of funding.”
“Our need is much bigger and the proposed bank beside multilateral donors like WB, ADB and IMF can meet it,” he added..
He also said, Bangladesh should deal it cautiously because there might be unnecessary influence from the part of the major contributing country in disbursement of loans.
Twenty-one Asian countries desiring to join the AIIB initiated by China, the No. 1 economic power at present by PPP, on Friday morning signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Establishing AIIB (MOU). Chinese President Xi Jinping met with the representatives of the 21 nations later in the morning.
The 21 countries are Bangladesh, Brunei, Cambodia, China, India, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Laos, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Oman, Pakistan, the Philippines, Qatar, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Uzbekistan and Vietnam.
The MOU specifies that the authorized capital of AIIB is $100 billion and the initial subscribed capital is expected to be around US$50 billion. The paid-in ratio will be 20 percent.
AIIB will be an inter-governmental regional development institution in Asia. As agreed, Beijing will be the host city for AIIB’s headquarters. It is expected that the Prospective Founding Members will complete the signing and ratification of the Articles of Agreement (AOA) in 2015 and AIIB will be formally established by the end of the same year.
