China urged to extend loan repayment period to 30 years: Finance adviser

Bangladesh has urged China to extend its loan repayment period to 30 years, Finance Adviser Salehuddin Ahmed said today (8 September).

"Bringing low-cost loans is always our priority. We want to increase the loan repayment period…We asked China to extend the period to 30 years. We have also asked to extend the grace period," he told reporters after a meeting with representatives of Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Asian Development Bank and Australian high commissioner appointed in Dhaka at the Secretariat.

The adviser also mentioned that loans from Japan have a 30-year repayment period as well as a ten-year grace period.

Besides, the government also wants the development partners to extend the repayment period to at least 30 years as China has recently been requested in this regard. However, Japan is already complying with this, he added.

According to the latest data bulletin published by the Ministry of Finance, at the end of June, China has more than $55 billion dollars in stocks in Bangladesh.

China usually gives Bangladesh a grace period of five years for loans and a repayment period of 15 years.

He also expressed his optimism that the Asian Development Bank (ADB) would lend $400 million as budget support to Bangladesh within the current fiscal year (FY25).

He informed that the government has already sought $3 billion support from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in addition to its already allocated $4.7 billion credit support to Bangladesh.

"Discussions in this regard will be held with the IMF authorities during my upcoming visit to Washington to join the annual meetings of the IMF and the World Bank Group," he added.

Replying to another question, he said the Awami League government did not work for ensuring maximum welfare of the country's people, adding, "But, we don't want to make a post mortem of the past, rather want to move ahead".

Responding to a question, the finance adviser said that the foreign aid flow to Bangladesh is almost fine, but there were questions regarding optimum utilisation of those and the priorities for utilisation.

"There were some monument projects in our country in the past regime, a symptom which was also seen in India…," he added.  
 
Asked about the outcomes of the meetings, Dr Salehuddin said all the three are the important development partners of Bangladesh. 

"We discussed with them to intensify further the cooperation that they were enjoying with Bangladesh," he added.

During the parleys, he said the development partners have assured the government of providing more assistance and making more new engagements.

Besides, the adviser said discussions on funding projects in the physical infrastructure sector alongside energy, agriculture, disaster management also took place in the meetings.

JICA chief representative Tomohide Ichiguchi, Acting High Commissioner of Australia to Bangladesh Nadira Simpson and ADB Director on Public Sector Management and Governance Sector Cigdem Akin led their respective delegations in the meetings.