Bangladesh, World Bank sign $1 billion loan deal

• The government of Bangladesh and the World Bank have officially signed a loan agreement exceeding $1 billion. The purpose of this collaboration is to support the nation's pursuit of resilient and inclusive growth. The focus areas include enhancing early childhood development, improving secondary education, safeguarding riverbanks and navigability, enhancing urban primary health, and increasing gas distribution efficiency.
• The agreement, consisting of five distinct projects, was formalized in Dhaka. Senior Secretary of Bangladesh's Economic Relations Division, Sharifa Khan, and Abdoulaye Seck, the World Bank Country Director for Bangladesh and Bhutan, executed the agreement on Thursday, as reported by Xinhua news agency.
• One of the highlighted projects is the Bangladesh Enhancing Investments and Benefits for Early Years Project. This initiative aims to enhance early childhood development by providing cash transfers and counseling services to approximately 1.7 million pregnant women and mothers of children under four in vulnerable households.
• The Learning Acceleration in Secondary Education Operation Project is designed to strengthen secondary education by improving learning outcomes and teaching quality, according to the World Bank.
• Two additional projects, the Jamuna River Sustainable Management Project 1 and the Urban Health, Nutrition, and Population Project, will contribute to improving primary healthcare services, addressing common illnesses, including mosquito-borne diseases like dengue. Furthermore, these projects aim to enhance riverbank protection and navigability in the Jamuna River, safeguarding around 2,500 hectares of land from erosion and flooding.
• The Gas Sector Efficiency Improvement and Carbon Abatement Project constitute another significant endeavor, intending to enhance the efficiency of gas distribution and end-use through pre-paid metering systems. This project also aims to reduce methane emissions along the natural gas value chain.
• Sharifa Khan emphasized the robust partnership between Bangladesh and the World Bank, centered on realizing the country's vision of achieving upper-middle-income status by 2031 and higher income status by 2041. Abdoulaye Seck echoed this sentiment, highlighting Bangladesh's importance as a crucial partner for the World Bank in its mission to eradicate poverty on a sustainable planet. He acknowledged the impactful partnership between the World Bank and Bangladesh since the country's independence, which has uplifted millions of Bangladeshi people from poverty.

Also Read: Weekly Current Affairs (International) 21-27 October 2023 Bitbank: What is India's rank on the Global Pension Index 2023?

                         >> Download Current Affairs PDFs Here

                              Download Sakshi Education Mobile APP

Published date : 24 Nov 2023 04:15PM