by Staff Correspondent,

Dhaka – Bangladesh has urged the international lenders to focus on giving soft loans until the world economy comes to normalcy overcoming the economic hurdles emanating from the Russian war on Ukraine.

“It is necessary to continue giving soft loans till the global economy goes back to normalcy,” Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said while addressing a programme marking the celebration of the golden jubilee of Bangladesh-Asian Development Bank (ADB) partnership in Dhaka.

Lenders and developed countries should give special focus on it, she added.

Hasina expressed concern over the trend of increasing interest rate against loans by the development partners even amid the global crisis for Russia-Ukraine war, economic sanction and counter sanctions which in most cases make their financing in development projects ineffective.

“We don’t want kindness from anyone, rather we want our due rights from the global partners,” she said expressing resentment over imposing various restrictions by business partners.

“It (restrictions) sends our economies in danger,” she said.

Hasina urged the International Monetary Fund to come up with flexible and innovative financing in accelerating skill, health, ICT, infrastructure development, climate change and human resource development.

“The relations between Bangladesh and the IMF will be more strengthened in the days to come.”

The premier however thanked the ADB for supporting Bangladesh in its need, saying the ADB’s cooperation has increased three times in the last one and a half decade since Awami League assumed power in 2009.

She added: “We are seeing with pleasure that the ADB always stands by Bangladesh in our bad time with innovative financing and technological support.”

She recalled that the ADB gave 2.29 billion USD support during the Covid-19 pandemic to deal with health emergencies and 230 million USD to overcome the damages of the flood in Bangladesh’s north-western part.

President of ADB Masatsugu Asakawa, Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal, Economic Relations Division Secretary Sharifa Khan, spoke at the function. ADB Country Director to Bangladesh Edimon Ginting gave the concluding speech.

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