Bangladesh government will seek support from the Asian Development Bank, as also from other international donors, in tackling the Rohingya refugee crisis, said Finance Minister AMA Muhith.
“We will of course ask for ADB’s support. Already we have asked for World Bank’s help. We will also ask from them,” he told the media after a meeting with Director-General of the Asian Development Bank Hun Kim at the minister’s Secretariat office.
“World Bank has a separate window for this. But ADB will support us from their normal quota for us,” the finance minister said. “However, we have to design a separate project for that.”
International donor agencies have stepped up their relief effort since the Rohingya refugee crisis escalated in late August. Recently, the WB has also joined the league by declaring that it is ready to move with a programme of support for the people forced out of Myanmar into Bangladesh.
Earlier, the United Nations had said it would require around US$ 434 million to respond to what has been billed by international media as ‘the fastest-growing refugee crisis’.
“The assistance we are getting right now from all the parties is mostly for relief and rehabilitation,” Mr Muhith told the reporters.
“However, they are naturally concerned about the future. They understand that a lot of these people will not go back. Then, we have to think about them. We’ll go slow about it,” he added.
The finance minister also opined that the Rohingya refugee crisis is unlikely to pose any big pressure on the country’s budget.
“Thanks to the support we are getting from our development partners, this crisis unlikely to have any big pressure on our budget,” Mr Muhith said.
The finance minister also said his ministry is working to come up with the estimation of department-wise additional expenses that would be required for coping with the crisis.
“I have already told the Finance Secretary to come up with a plan along with an estimated figure.”
The ADB regional Director-General, Hun Kim, earlier told the media that his organisation is ready to support the government for coping with the Rohingya refugee crisis. However, they are waiting for formal request from the government.
“ADB stands ready to support the government when there is a request by the government for our financial assistance,” Hun Kim said after his meeting with Muhith.
“We are in close touch with the government. We are also talking to other development partners. But at this moment, we are monitoring the situation and waiting for the government decision,” he added.
Asked about the possible modality of this assistance, the DG of the Asian development-financing bank said this is likely to be ‘primarily grant’.
“We expect this has to be primarily grant,” Mr Kim said, while mentioning that the ADB, being a multilateral development lender, usually provides loans.
“But in this kind of situation, we have to find a way to mobilise grants,” he added.
The ADB high official also informed that the Manila-based lender is going to lend US$ 8.0 billion for development financing over the next five years.
“Until last year, ADB’s lending was about US$ 1.0 billion a year. But we have prepared a new five-year country strategy under which ADB’s lending will go up from 1.0 billion to at least 1.5 billion or more,” he said.
Since 1973, the Bank has so far channelled US$ 18.5 billion for bankrolling development in Bangladesh. Currently, it has 51 projects operational in the country, the total value of which is around USD$ 7.0 billion.