REJAUL KARIM BYRON

The World Bank’s board is set to approve $1.5 billion in budget support under three loan programmes for Bangladesh this month, a development that will bring much relief to the strained government finances amid the Middle East war.

Of this, about $800 million will be repurposed from existing project loans under the Rapid Response Option (RRO) window, $300 million for fertiliser imports and food assistance, and $400 million for banking sector reforms.

The breakthrough came after multiple rounds of talks in both Washington DC and Dhaka, The Daily Star has learnt from officials involved with the negotiations.

Bangladesh will need an additional $2.61 billion to pay the elevated energy and fertiliser import bills for the last quarter of fiscal 2025-26 because of the Iran war that began on February 28, according to a finance ministry impact analysis.

Subsequently, in April, the finance ministry sought urgent budget support from the WB and other donor agencies due to rising expenses for LNG, fuel and fertiliser imports following the Iran war, and the Washington-based multilateral lender is providing support as part of that request.

Any member state of the WB can restructure or repurpose up to

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