The government received US$ 748 million worth of foreign aid in the July-October period of the current fiscal, more than double the amount received in the corresponding period of last fiscal, officials said Sunday.

In Jul-Oct period of the last financial year (FY) 2011-12, the government received US$ 353.71 million in assistance from multilateral and bilateral donors, official data showed.

The Economic Relations Division (ERD) statistics, released on Sunday, also showed that the donors had committed $ 1.74 billion in loans and grants during the first four months of the current financial year of 2012-13.

In the corresponding period of the last fiscal, the donors committed $ 2.06 billion in aid for Bangladesh's development work.

"Since Japan and the World Bank have disbursed a good amount of aid, the overall foreign assistance flow in the Jul-Oct period of the current fiscal has been impressive," a senior ERD official told the FE.

During the period under review, a total of $ 150 million in loan had been disbursed by Bangladesh's largest bilateral donor, Japan, and $ 285 million by the largest multilateral donor World Bank, the ERD statistics showed.

The second largest multilateral donor-Asian Development Bank-has also extended an impressive amount of assistance worth $ 136 million.

Among other donors, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) disbursed $25 million and the International Labour Organisation $34 million during the period.

"We are hopeful about achieving our foreign aid target through the government channel in the remaining eight months of the current fiscal," a senior ERD official said.

The government had set a foreign aid target of nearly $2.20 billion for the current financial year.

News: The Daily Financial Express/Bangladesh/3rd-Dec-12