A staggering US$21.82 billion, which is half the total funds in the pipeline, is now held by the three major donor agencies and countries – the World Bank has US$7.66 billion; The Asian Development Bank has the highest at USD5.71 billion and Japan has the highest at USD8.25 billion. Furthermore, China and India committed to provide large amounts of assistance on various occasions.
A senior ERD official told Prothom Alo that there are problems in project implementation; similarly, ministries are less interested in foreign-aided projects due to donor conditions and bureaucratic complexities associated with development projects.
According to this official, the release of foreign aid funds has increased manifold in the last few years.
*This report, originally published in Prothom Alo print and online editions, has been rewritten in English by Rabiul Islam