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ADB to boost funds for Bangladesh

Star Business Report
The Asian Development Bank has signalled that it would increase its development assistance to Bangladesh.
ADB Vice President Wencai Zhang spoke to Finance Minister AMA Muhith at a meeting in Dhaka yesterday.
Muhith later told reporters that the ADB vice president informed him that their commitment to Bangladesh reached $1 billion last fiscal year and now the bank intends to increase it to $ 1.5 billion. Bangladesh requested Zhang to raise the amount to $2 billion and Zhang responded positively, Muhith told reporters. Earlier, Bangladesh implemented smaller projects, but now it has taken up bigger ones, which require more development assistance, Muhith added.
Citing examples of Japan, Muhith said the country has pledged to give Bangladesh $5 billion in three years, considering the need. ADB has also increased the authority of their local offices, meeting the long standing demand of Bangladesh, said Muhith.
The minister said Bangladesh does not have any issue with ADB; the only difficulty it faces is the delay in appointing consultants for the projects funded by the bank.
Muhith has requested the ADB to speed up the appointment process.
PAY COMMISSION
Muhith reaffirmed that the pay scale for the government staff will come into effect on July 1 next year. The Pay and Service Commission is supposed to submit its report to the government by December 15, but it is likely that it will be handed in on December 10, he said. After receiving it, a secretary-level committee will then review its recommendations and place it in the cabinet meeting, he added.
DEFAULT LOANS
On default loans, Muhith said, "Yes, it is true that the culture of default loans has been politically encouraged; the culture is being checked by the government and it is pretty successful."
On an increase in bad loans in recent times, Muhith said it shot up due to a relaxed rescheduling policy; Bangladesh Bank has been looking into the matter.
Default loans have been on the rise in state owned banks for scams like the ones in BASIC Bank and Sonali Bank, he said. Another reason is that the state banks provide loans for many big purchases by the government, like import of petroleum products, and on many occasions, the government fails to pay the loans on time, the minister added.
About the increase in loans in Krishi Bank, he said its management is very poor and new management has been appointed to the bank. Krishi Bank provides loans for agri-businesses besides giving agriculture loans, Muhith said. The agri-businessmen are powerful and often do not repay the loans in time, he added.