Bangladesh boosts fiscal management through World Bank loan

4 Mar 19

Bangladesh is to boost its public financial management and budget process with the help of a $100m loan from the World Bank.

The project will support the government of Bangladesh’s 2016-2021 plan to improve fiscal management and reporting, transparency and accountability within selected government agencies.

Dandan Chen, World Bank acting country director for Bangladesh and Bhutan, said: “Bangladesh has improved its PFM systems over the past two decades with effective fiscal measures and by maintaining public debts at sustainable levels.

“This project will further help public agencies to strengthen oversight and improve availability of public resources, which are essential to public service delivery.”

Currently, there are a number of bottlenecks in the allocation of public resources, as well as issues around availability and social service delivery, the bank said.

It added that delays in budget releases are often cited as one of the biggest obstacles to “smooth and efficient service delivery”, and that slow procurement processes delay the provision of goods and services.

Furqan Ahmad Saleem, World Bank team leader for the PFM programme said: “The current context provides a unique window of opportunity to strengthen Bangladesh’s PFM institutions and systems.

“This is a critical time to strengthen PFM, given the heightened need for prudent use of resources.”

He added that the reforms would contribute towards Sustainable Development Goals and help Bangladesh achieve middle-income status by 2030.

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