The hard-term loan committee on Sunday approved the ADB’s proposed $500 million loan to be utilised for weathering the impact of the global economic plunge.The hard-term loan committee headed by Finance Minister AMA Muhith accepted it as the country has already been affected by the second round impact of the global economic recession, said a finance ministry official.Head of External Affairs of ADB, Bangladesh office Govinda Bar said the $500million credit has to be repaid within five years with a three-year grace period and the LIBOR-based interest rate will be around 2.8 per cent.The government would sit for negotiation with the Manila-based 67-member donor on August 27-28 in Dhaka, he said.The ADB has already given assurance of giving US$500 million to the government from its “Counter-Cyclical Support Facility Fund” to fight the adverse impact of the global economic recession on the economy of Bangladesh.”If the negotiations are completed successfully we are expecting disbursement of the $500 million assistance by December this year” the ERD official said.He said the government might utilise a part of the fund to support the export sectors, which had been hard hit by the global economic recession.The government in the current fiscal’s budget has a target of $350 million as budget-support credit from different donors to minimise the fiscal deficit.
Source: Financial Express
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