Finance Minister AMA Muhith sought Wednesday funds from Japanese banks for financing mega-projects.
"After having attained some maturity, now we think that we should go for mega-projects. And we want financiers like them," he told newsmen after a meeting with a delegation of Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation at his secretariat office Wednesday.
The Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation is one of the largest financial institutions in Japan after Mitsubishi Corporation. In global context, it is also a large entity, the minister said.
Mr Muhith said during the meeting, he discussed mega-projects like railway-system expansion, Paira port, and power plants which the corporation can finance. He said he gave an indication to the delegation members that each mega-project may need funds like $5.0 billion, $10 billion, and even $100 billion for the railway project.
"They have come here to explore where investments can be made," the minister said.
To a query regarding Japan government's assistance to Bangladesh, Mr Muhith, referring to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's assurance of extending cooperation, said the annual assistance now came to $1.5 billion from $700 million in the past.
He said the rate of interest on loans from Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation will be comparatively good. In this case South Korea is best followed by Japan and China.
A member of the delegation told the FE the credits from the Corporation would not be soft in form. However, the interest rate would be commercial but competitive to other financiers.
Head of investment-banking department of Corporation's Singapore headquarters Rajeev Kannan led the delegation. Other members were: head of project and export finance Luca Tonello, head of export and agency finance Jeanne Soh, and vice-president of export and agency finance Prem Raj Suman. syful-
