The World Bank Group announced yesterday that it will boost efforts to expand energy access, while also increasing support for renewable energy and energy efficiency in developing countries. As part of its effort to support UN Secretary-General Ban Ki- moon’s Sustainable Energy for All initiative, the World Bank will provide about 8 billion U.S. dollars a year in financing for energy projects and programs, which leverages a comparable amount from donors, governments and the private sector.

Meanwhile, the bank will also seek to double leveraging of its energy lending, emphasizing low-carbon energy, to 16 billion dollars a year.

The World Bank, which already supported energy access initiatives in 60 countries around the globe, also pledged to scale up initiatives to provide electricity, clean household fuels and improved cookstoves in selected countries, while also seeking increased financing to implement them, said World Bank Managing Director Mahmoud Mohieldin.

Providing access to electricity to the world’s 1.3 billion people who are without it, and clean household fuels to the 2.7 billion without them, is a priority for the World Bank Group, Mohieldin said.  At the same time, we
will promote energy efficiency practices and facilitate efforts by countries to shift to cleaner energy sources.

Meanwhile, the Climate Investment Funds, managed by the Bank Group and regional multilateral development banks, and to which donors have pledged 7 billion dollars, will also be invested, to a large extent, in renewable energy and energy efficiency projects in ways that leverage private investment.

The World Bank will work with ESMAP and other international agencies to produce a baseline report on current status worldwide, with respect to the three goals of Sustainable Energy for All, which will form the basis for regular global tracking reports to monitor and report on progress towards the 2030 targets for access, renewable energy and energy efficiency.

By mobilizing our knowledge, financial resources and convening power, along with that of our partners, I am convinced that we can find the right strategies and the financing needed to eliminate energy poverty and achieve these goals by 2030, Mohieldin said.

The Independent/Bangladesh/ 23th June 2012

Lower trade deficit, restricted imports and higher foreign aid have underpinned an improvement in the country's balance of payments (BOP) situation at the end of April of the outgoing financial year.

Bangladesh Bank (BB) data shows the BoP shortfall came down to $106 million in April this year, from $ 419 million in March. In the July-April period of the previous fiscal, the deficit in BoP was as high as $502 million.

A BB high official said the BoP situation has been improved due to lower trade deficit as a result of tightening monetary policy, which also restricted imports and encouraged exports to new destinations and pursued for accelerating the remittance mobilisation.

“BB was serious in executing the monetary policy stance (MPS) and monitored banks regularly, especially on opening of letters of credit (LCs), since the MPS for January-June of the current FY came to force early 2012,” said the official, seeking anonymity.

The country also received around $1.5 billion as foreign loans including $ 300 million from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that helps ease the pressures in balance of payments, he said.

The official said the merchandise imports in the first half of the current fiscal saw a significant growth that led the central bank to intervene into restricting import of non-productive items so that no abnormal burden could rise with regards to BoP.

Due to the high demand for petroleum products for the fuel-run quick-rental and rental power plants, the country’s import expenditure stood at $ 28.8 billion at the end of May since July 2011, up 11.82 percent compared to the same period of the previous fiscal, according to BB statistics.

Opening of LCs for import of food grains (rice and wheat), capital machinery, industrial raw materials and other products together declined by 6.97 percent this fiscal compared to the previous fiscal.

For food grains, the fall in imports was 70.10 percent while capital machinery 25.82 percent, industrial raw materials 8.05 percent and others imports saw a fall by 4.41 percent in July-April period of the 2011-12 fiscal.

On the other hand, earnings from merchandise exports rose to

$ 21.7 billion in the July-May period of the outgoing fiscal. The growth in exports over the corresponding period was recorded only 8.2 percent. The growth was almost half than the strategic target of 15 percent for FY 2011-12, according to data available from Export Promotion Bureau (EPB).

Meanwhile, the country received a total of $ 11.7 billion in remittance during the July-May period. The country received another $580 million as foreign direct investment during the same period.

The Daily Sun/Bangladesh/ 23th June 2012

SINGAPORE: Oil prices inched up in Asian trade today as wary traders bought up cheap crude to recoup some of their losses after the previous day’s plunge, analysts said.

New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in August, gained 33 cents to $78.53 a barrel in the afternoon, up from $78.20 in New York, its lowest level since the beginning of October.

Brent North Sea crude for August delivery advanced 65 cents to $89.88 after tumbling to $89.23 in late Thursday trade, dipping below the $90 line for the first time since December 2010.

“We’re seeing a small bounce for now. There is potential for a little bit of short-covering given the big moves last night,” Jason Hughes, head of premium client management at IG Markets Singapore, told AFP.

But he said the market outlook remained grim following disappointing numbers from China and Europe.

Preliminary data from banking giant HSBC on Thursday showed China’s manufacturing activity hit a seven-month low in June, while a separate survey showed eurozone private sector activity sank to the lowest level for three years in the second quarter.

The Daily Sun/Bangladesh/ 23th June 2012

Prof Dr Anu Muhammad speaks at a roundtable in Dhaka Friday.

The government is continuing power generation through rental power plants to help maximise profits of a section of people, despite having its huge negative consequence, speakers said yesterday.

Instead of running the quick rentals, the government could generate 1,600 megawatt more power through renovating the run-down power stations in last three years, they told a roundtable.

Weekly magazine ‘Shaptahik’ organised the roundtable in Dhaka, attended by civil society members and energy experts.

The speakers also suggested that the government should prioritise gas-based and state-owned power plants for low-cost power generation. A nexus of bureaucrats, professionals and politicians is cashing in from the acute power crisis and creating money through rental powers.

They pointed out that supplying gas to private stations, depriving the low-cost state ones, is a part of that blueprint.

“The retention of power crisis along with continuing rental powers is a clear indication of making country’s utility sectors profit-making ventures for the private sector,” Prof Dr Anu Muhammad, who teaches Economics at Jahangirnagar University, said.

“The repeated power rate hikes and setting Tk 13 to Tk 19 per unit price for uninterrupted power are parts of the roadmap of that conspiracy,” he continued.

He said price hike has not been done for improving the power situation, but to compensate the mistakes of the government in the sector and benefit a handful of opportunists.

Dr MM Akash, professor of Economics at Dhaka University, said the government initially went for the emergency solution to offset huge power crisis it inherited from the previous government.

“But, actually it was a wrong decision and created a hotchpotch in the whole economy,” said Akash.

Dr Anu Muhammad said the government could easily make 2,400MW of power only spending Tk 12-15 billion by improving the efficiency of the existing plants. On the contrary, it spent nearly Tk 320 billion to generate 900MW from rental or quick rental powers, he said.

The government is cutting subsidies being prescribed by the International Monetary Fund; but not the causes behind the subsidies. He said subsidies are given to ensure health, education, and small entrepreneurship for common people. But now these are going to give business to a vested quarter.

He said IMF uses its loans as an instrument to create a platform for private sector or multinational companies.

Taking part at the discussion, Syed Abul Moksud said people are now becoming intolerant about the power crisis, which has been made artificially.

He called for forming a highly-powered citizen committee to investigate irregularities taking place in the rental powers.

The Daily Sun/Bangladesh/ 23th June 2012

WASHINGTON: The IMF yesterday said the euro area needs to move now to establish full banking union and that the European Central Bank should move on more demand-generating stimulus policies.

Underscoring that the eurozone crisis is in a “critical stage”, the International Monetary Fund stepped up pressure on Europe’s leaders to take real action on the banking sector and economic growth in their coming summit.

The Fund said in its annual review of the euro area economy that boosting demand cannot wait for structural reforms across the eurozone.

And it insisted, echoing the international pressure that was clear in the G20 summit in Mexico on Monday and Tuesday, that the region needed to establish a unified system for bank monitoring, resolution and deposit insurance.

“The euro area crisis has reached a critical stage,” the IMF said. “Despite extraordinary policy actions, bank and sovereign markets in many parts of the euro area remain under acute stress, raising questions about the viability of the monetary union itself.”

The Daily Sun/Bangladesh/ 23th June 2012