Monday, July 1, 2019

US$ 2.44 bn foreign finance from 19 agreements

The Government has made arrangements to mobilize foreign financing of US$ 2,439 million by entering into 19 agreements with foreign development partners and lending agencies from January 1 to April 30, 2019, to support the public investment program.

This mobilization consists of US$ 2,431 million in the form of loans, that is, Official Development Assistance (ODA) and US$ 8 million by way of ODA grants and technical assistance.

China led the ODA commitments during this period amounting to US$ 989 million followed by the World Bank (US$ 352 million), Asian Development Bank (US$ 310 million), Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (US$ 280 million), Japan (US$ 270 million), France (US$ 85 million), HSBC-Hong Kong (US$ million 72), United Kingdom (US$ 64 million), Austria (US$ 10 million), Korea (US$ 6 million), Food and Agriculture Organization (US$ 0.3 million), and United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (US$ 0.02 million), respectively, according to Mid –year Fiscal Position Report -2019 of the Finance Ministry.

Of the commitments made in the form of ODA during the first four months of 2019, the highest amount was committed for the roads and bridges sector (US$ 1,053 million), while the ground transport sector received commitments of US$ 570 million.

In addition to the funds raised from ODA development partners, US$ 2,400 million was raised through International Sovereign Bonds (ISB) during the period under review of which. US$ 1,000 million was raised at a fixed interest rate of 6.85 per cent with a 5 year tenure while the balance US$ 1,400 million was raised at a fixed interest rate of 7.85 per cent with 10 year tenure.

Total foreign financing disbursements made for development projects and programmes during the period from January 1 to April 30, 2019 amounted to US$ 539 million, of which, US$ 535 million was disbursed as loans while nearly US$ 4 million was disbursed by way of grants. The majority of the disbursements were from the loan agreements signed with China, which were almost 40 per cent followed by World Bank (14 per cent), Asian Development Bank (13 per cent) and Japan (12 per cent).

The majority of the disbursements were in lieu of the projects implemented under the roads and bridges sector accounting for almost 52 per cent followed by the water supply and sanitation sector at 15 per cent, ground transport sector at 6 per cent and SME sector at 5.5 per cent.

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