ADB gives $250m loan for economic recovery
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a $250 million policy-based loan to support Bangladesh's economic recovery following the Covid-induced pandemic.
This is the first subprogramme of the programmatic $500 million Sustainable Economic Recovery Programme, ADB said in a statement yesterday.
The objective of the programme is to facilitate a rapid and sustainable recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic, generate employment, and expand economic activities for micro-entrepreneurs and small businesses, it said.
"This will be pursued through policy reforms that will create fiscal space to enhance public expenditure and support the recovery and growth of cottage, micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (CMSMEs)."
The loan will also support the government's planned public investment in education, health, social protection, and infrastructure and help to stimulate economic activities and economic recovery.
"The fiscal space created under the programme will allow the government to prioritise expenditures and upscale investment in social and economic infrastructure," said Srinivasan Janardanam, principal financial management specialist of ADB.
"The programme is expected to increase the efficiency in public investment management and create a favorable environment for access to credit, particularly for the poor and vulnerable."
To promote fiscal sustainability, the programme will help the government address a couple of key constraints to public investments in critically needed physical and social infrastructure, ADB said.
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