Economic Reporter :
The World Bank has approved an additional $245 million funding to improve the equity, efficiency and transparency of major safety-net programmes in Bangladesh.
To support the poor and vulnerable, the government implements a number of safety-net programmes, said a World Bank press release on Monday.
The release said the financing to the ongoing Safety Net Systems for the Poorest Project will benefit the country’s nine million poorest households.
With the additional financing, the World Bank’s total commitment to the project stands at $745 million. The project will close on June 30, 2019.
The credit is from the International Development Association (IDA), the World Bank’s concessional lending arm. The credits are interest-free and repayable in 38 years, including a 6-year grace period, and carry a service charge of 0.75 percent.
The additional funding will help improve performance of some of the country’s largest safety-net programmes, which are implemented by the Department of Disaster Management. These safety-nets include public workfare and humanitarian assistance programmes.
“In FY 2017, Bangladesh spent around $3.5 billion on social protection, which is about 1.4 percent of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP),” said Rajashree Paralkar, operations manager of the World Bank.
“By effectively identifying poor households and administering the safety- net programmes, the government will continue to reduce poverty and ensure effective use of public resources” he added.
The World Bank has approved an additional $245 million funding to improve the equity, efficiency and transparency of major safety-net programmes in Bangladesh.
To support the poor and vulnerable, the government implements a number of safety-net programmes, said a World Bank press release on Monday.
The release said the financing to the ongoing Safety Net Systems for the Poorest Project will benefit the country’s nine million poorest households.
With the additional financing, the World Bank’s total commitment to the project stands at $745 million. The project will close on June 30, 2019.
The credit is from the International Development Association (IDA), the World Bank’s concessional lending arm. The credits are interest-free and repayable in 38 years, including a 6-year grace period, and carry a service charge of 0.75 percent.
The additional funding will help improve performance of some of the country’s largest safety-net programmes, which are implemented by the Department of Disaster Management. These safety-nets include public workfare and humanitarian assistance programmes.
“In FY 2017, Bangladesh spent around $3.5 billion on social protection, which is about 1.4 percent of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP),” said Rajashree Paralkar, operations manager of the World Bank.
“By effectively identifying poor households and administering the safety- net programmes, the government will continue to reduce poverty and ensure effective use of public resources” he added.
