ADB wants to offer funds

Following World Bank, Asian Development Bank has shown interest to help Dhaka deal with the Rohingya refugee crisis which is putting tremendous pressure on Bangladesh.

“We are maintaining close contact with the government on Rohingya issue and the ADB is ready to support Bangladesh when they request for financial assistance,” said ADB South Asia Director General Hun Kim.

Talking to journalists after a meeting with Finance Minister AMA Muhith at the latter's secretariat office yesterday, he said they were in talks with the government and other development partners.

“I would say at this moment we are more like monitoring the situation and waiting for the government position,” said Kim. Muhith said the government sought assistance from the World Bank and would do so from the ADB.

He said the WB has a separate window from where they have promised to help Bangladesh on the Rohingya issue.

Having no such window, the ADB has expressed willingness to provide funds from their existing normal quota and for that Bangladesh has to submit project papers.  Muhith said the government was yet to submit any formal request to the ADB. He said they would go slow.

He said, earlier the government had an impression that the Rohingya crisis would put huge pressure on the budget. But through assessment they have found that there would be no big pressure for now.

The minister said he has already told the finance secretary to prepare an estimate of the money required for addressing the Rohingya problem in the current fiscal year.

The government wrote a formal letter to the WB last month seeking financial assistance for the Rohingyas.

A six-member WB mission arrived in Dhaka late last month to have a need assessment, which ended on Saturday.