Bangladesh performed 'average' in the World Bank's (WB's) country policy and institutional assessment (CPIA) in 2017, said a new report.
The International Development Association (IDA), the bank's soft-lending arm, has prepared the report.
The IDA prepares such statement every year as part of its performance-based allocation system.
The assessment does review each of the IDA recipient's policy and institutional framework for fostering poverty reduction and sustainable growth.
The IDA assessment does also give an indication of the ability of the recipients to use development assistance effectively.
"The overall 2017 CPIA rating for Bangladesh is 3.2, which is the same as the average for all IDA borrowers," the World Bank's country director in Dhaka Qimiao Fan wrote in a recent letter to the Finance Minister, AMA Muhith.
In CPIA's economic management category, Bangladesh scored 3.8 while the average IDA borrowers attained 3.2.
The assessment shows that Bangladesh scored 4.0 in monetary and exchange rate policies, while the average borrowers did 3.4.
In fiscal policy assessment, Bangladesh's score was 3.5 against 3.1 by average borrowers.
It also shows that Bangladesh's score was 4.0 while the average borrowers' score was 3.2 in debt policy and management assessment.
In the structural policy category, Bangladesh scored 3.0 against 3.2 by average IDA borrowers, the report shows.
Bangladesh scored lower than average in trade policy assessment by attaining 3.5 against 3.8 by average IDA borrowers.
In the financial sector assessment, Bangladesh's score was 2.5 while the average rate was 2.8.
The country's score in business regulatory environment assessment was 3.0 -- same as the average borrowers.
In policies for social inclusion/equity category, Bangladesh scored 3.4.
The average score in this area was 3.2.
Bangladesh's score in gender equality was 3.0, lower than average score of 3.2.
In public resource use review, the country scored 3.5 against 3.3 by average borrowers.
In social protection and labour assessment, Bangladesh's score was 3.5 against 3.0 by average IDA borrowers, according to the report.
In public sector management and institutions assessment, the country scored 2.7 while the average IDA borrowers scored 3.0.
A senior World Bank official in Dhaka told the FE Tuesday, Bangladesh secured $ 1.0 billion in loans from the IDA in 2017, which is around 10 per cent of its global disbursement.
In 2018, Bangladesh is also among the top three recipients of the soft loans, he said.
The World Bank provides IDA assistance to 75 poor countries to help them foster economic growth, reduce inequalities, and improve the people's living conditions.
The concessional loans have a zero or very low interest charge and repayments are stretched over 25 to 40 years, including a five-to-10-year grace period.
"The score (3.2) is not bad," said the World Bank official without elaborating.
syful-islam@outlook.com