bdnews24.com :
Finance Minister AMA Muhith says Bangladesh is ‘more interested’ the China-proposed Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) than in the BRICS Development Bank.
Highlighting Bangladesh’s position in an interview to bdnews24.com at Washington on Sunday, Muhith said: “The progress of BRICS Bank is very slow. We (government) are not thinking very much about it (BRICS Bank) at the moment. We’ll think about it when it gains momentum. Now we’re more interested in AIIB that China is setting up.”
He said the government already decided to be member of AIIB. “We hope we can boost our growth by getting major funding from the AIIB.”
Muhith is in Washington and spoke to bdnews24.com here on the last day of the 70th annual meeting of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF).
A delegation led by State Minister for Finance MA Mannan is flying to China on Oct 24 to sign a memorandum of understanding on the AIIB.
Asked whether Bangladesh’s relation with the World Bank and Asian Development Bank will be affected if the country becomes an AIIB member, Muhith said ‘not at all’..
“The matter of the World Bank is different. They (WB) invest money across the world. AIIB will invest only for the infrastructural development in Asia,” he said.
Muhith said ADB seemed to be a bit concerned . “But we need so much investment that ADB should not mind if we become an AIIB member. That’s why our relationship with them won’t be affected.”
He said big investments were necessary for attaining 7-8 percent GDP growth to put Bangladesh’s economy on a solid footing.”
“Now we’re in 6 percent growth trap. We cannot attain 7 percent growth despite much efforts… Bangladesh is now ready for big investments. That’s why we’ll welcome assistance from agencies other than the World Bank and ADB,” he added.
The minister said Dhaka’s economic relations were now very strong with Beijing, which has invested in several big projects in Bangladesh.
Bangladesh decided to join AIIB at an inter-ministerial meeting held last month with the finance minister in the chair.
Chinese President Xi Jinping had revealed his country’s plan last year to create the bank with a capital of $100 billion. China alone will provide $50 billion and other countries the rest.
Muhith said 22 countries, including Bangladesh and several rich Middle Eastern nations, have already expressed their interest to join AIIB.
China, along with other BRICS countries-Brazil, Russia, India and South Africa-announced creation of another bank-The New Development Bank (NDB), formerly referred to as BRICS Development Bank.
