Bangladesh will receive $200 million from the International Development Association (IDA), a concessionary lending window of the World Bank, to help create jobs in the country’s Covid-affected informal sector.
The fund will come under an agreement Bangladesh signed with IDA in the capital on Wednesday.
Fatima Yasmin, secretary, Economic Relations Division, Ministry of Finance, and Mercy Miyang Tembon, Country Director, World Bank, Dhaka Office, signed the loan agreement on behalf of their respected sides, reports UNB.
The project titled Recovery and Advancement of Informal Sector Employment (RAISE) would be implemented by Palli Karma-Sahayak Foundation (PKSF) under the supervision of Financial Institutions Division of the finance ministry and the Wage Earners' Welfare Board under the Ministry of Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment.
The project aims at increasing the economic opportunities of the low-income youth community in urban areas and the migrant workers returning from abroad due to COVID-19 pandemic.
Under the project low income urban youth and the youth micro entrepreneurs affected by the pandemic will be covered by the Economic Inclusion Programme through training, information sharing and providing loan.
The trainees will be provided support in gaining skill through on-the job training, and to get loans for business and entrepreneurship development.
The social and economic integration of the returnee migrants will be achieved through creating micro entrepreneurs and creating linkages with different organisations and financial institutions to help them access and re-integrate in the local labour market, and to re-migrate them in the foreign labour market by achieving specific skill and expertise.
PKSF will spend $150 million while the Wage Earners' Welfare Board spend $50 million to implement the project.
The proposed loan is repayable in 30 years with a grace period of five years.