Finance minister urges IFC to provide soft loans for private sector’s development

Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal on Monday urged the International Finance Corporation (IFC) to provide soft loans for areas, such as onshore taka bonds and public-private partnership (PPP) initiative, for the private sector's development in Bangladesh.

At a virtual meeting between the Bangladesh delegation and the IFC delegation on the sidelines of the World Bank and IMF Annual Meetings 2021, the finance minister also requested the IFC to extend necessary technical assistance to attract more investment through the PPP system as Bangladesh aspires to become a middle-income country by 2031 and a developed country by 2041.

Mustafa Kamal led the Bangladesh side, while IFC managing director Makhter Diop led the IFC delegation, according to a finance ministry press release.

During the meeting, Kamal also sought increased investment from IFC in Bangladesh's private sector.

In response, the IFC delegation assured the finance minister of strengthening further their relationship with Bangladesh.

The release said the meeting discussed the issue of issuing taka bonds in the capital market, overall reforms in the financial sector, county strategy of IFC and drawing investment through PPP.

The finance minister thanked the IFC for issuing "Bangla Bond" at the London stock exchange in 2019.

Mustafa Kamal also extended thanks to IFC for extending support to the private sector, especially to banks, various production-oriented sectors and new entrepreneurs for providing support during the pandemic.

He also highlighted various steps taken by the government to offset the pandemic shocks and also the matter of attaining positive GDP growth by Bangladesh despite the global economic slowdown.