World Bank Vice President to visit Bangladesh to discuss support for its development priorities

The World Bank Vice President for the South Asia Region (SAR), Martin Raiser will arrive in Dhaka tomorrow on his maiden visit to Bangladesh. During his visit Raiser will meet Bangladesh Finance Minister, along with other senior government officials. He will discuss World Bank support to address the country’s development priorities, said a press release issued today by the World Bank . He will also meet with development partners, leaders from the private sector, civil society, and think tanks.

World Bank Vice President Raiser praised Bangladesh for its impressive development and economic growth. Raiser said that as the countries in South Asia grapple with a multitude of shocks from COVID to climate change and rising global inflation, he looked forward to learning about Bangladesh’s experience in building resilience.

The World Bank was among the first development partners to support Bangladesh following its independence. Since then, the World Bank has committed more than USD 37 billion in grants, interest-free, and concessional credits to the country, said the WB press release.

The World Bank is the biggest contributor to Bangladesh within the multilateral debt category. Its concessional IDA finance constituted 55 percent of the total debt in the multilateral debt category while Asian Development Bank constituted 39 percent of the total multilateral debt to Bangladesh.