The country’s foreign aid inflow still remained low during the first eight months of the current fiscal, compared to the same period in the previous year.

Foreign aid disbursement marked a fall by US$16.61 million to $1,196.59 million during July 2011 to February 2012 period of the FY2011-12, compared to $1,213.20 million during the same period in 2010-11 FY.

The foreign aid commitment for July-February period of the current fiscal was $4,021.54 million including $2,992.88 million as loans and $1,028.66 million as grants.

Of the disbursed $1,196.59 million foreign assistance in the fiscal, $826.60 million came as loans while the rest of $370 million as grants, according to official data.

In the last fiscal, the government received a total of $1,213.20 million in foreign assistance, of which $684.97 million came as credit while $528.23 million as grants.

During the eight-month period, the government made a repayment of $650.75 million to the development partners, of which $506.42 million was principal amount, and the rest $144.33 million interests.

During the same period of last fiscal, the government made a repayment of $583.49 million, of which $ 458.58 million was principal amount and $124.91 million interests.

Of the disbursed loan, the ADB disbursed the highest $336.21 million followed by World Bank $306.39 million, Japan $90.98 million, IFAD $10.92 million, Kuwait $33.51 million and South Korea $33.27 million.

Of the disbursed grants, DFID provide $113.93 million, World Bank $59.58 million, EU $35.75 million, UNDP $39.65 million, UNICEF $30.43 million and Germany $31 million.

The country witnessed a sharp fall in foreign aid disbursement during last fiscal over the previous 2009-10 fiscal as donors did not disburse in line with their commitments.

The foreign aid disbursement during the last fiscal totaled $1,777.33 million, $450.44 million less than $2,227.77 million recorded in fiscal 2009-10.

The aid commitment for the last fiscal, both as loans and grants, was $5,929.27 million. Of the amount, the loan component was $5,335.08 million, mostly because of the donors’ commitments for the Padma Multipurpose Bridge project.

The grant commitments from the donors during the last were $594.19 million.

However, the total aid disbursement during last fiscal was $ 1,777.33 million, including $726.62 million as grants and $1,050.71 million as credit.

The Daily Sun/Bangladesh/ 21th March 2012