ADB to provide $338m for vaccine production in country: Country director

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will provide $338 million for vaccine production in Bangladesh, ADB Country Director Edimon Ginting said today (11 October).

Speaking to reporters after a meeting with Planning minister MA Mannan at the Planning Commission this morning, the ADB official said, "This initiative was taken to help Bangladesh reduce the dependency on vaccine imports and facilitate more production in the country."

Bangladesh will not be able to buy cheap vaccines after transitioning from LDC. For this reason, it is necessary to increase the capacity of vaccine production in the country from now, he added.

The total cost of the project is around $351 million, he said.

He also said the ADB would provide $3 billion annually, starting next year, to be invested in all development projects of the country.

Ginting said a loan of $3.5 billion was approved for Bangladesh in the last fiscal year. Of this, $2 billion was in low interest and $1.5 billion in below market rate interest.

The ADB also urged to speed up the approval process of the proposed project to increase the capacity of vaccine production in the country.

According to the agency, ADB's flexible loan for this project will become uncertain if it is not approved within this year.

In this regard, the planning minister said vaccines will be developed for various diseases, including dengue and Covid-19. "Apart from that, there is a need to prepare for possible epidemics in future."

He also said half of what the ADB wants to lend to the project is concessional loans and the other half is non-concessional. "The ADB has requested that the project be approved quickly."

Terming it a good initiative, the minister said there will be no shortage of efforts on the part of the planning ministry.