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No impact on budget if BDF meeting is not duly held in Paris |
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December 5, 2000
Dhaka--(UNB)- There will be no adverse impact on the national budget if the Bangladesh Development Forum (BDF) meeting in Paris is not duly held in April, Finance Minister Shah AMS Kibria said yesterday. “Deferring of Paris meet of donors is nothing new. There would be no impact on the next budget if it does not take place in April,” Kibria told UNB with confidence. He said government has a plan to hold discussion with development partners in February or March on specific issues, where a clear indication of aid availability for the next fiscal year will be at hand. Bangladesh’s bilateral and multilateral development partners also did not have any meeting in Paris in 1996, also an election year, he reminded his critics. “I, as the finance minister of new government, met them in 1997.” Bangladesh Development Forum, previously called Aid Consortium, usually meets in April each year to assess the country’s development needs. Despite a major policy shift of donors from making any specific aid commitment in recent years, the meeting has a special significance for national budget since 45 percent of the Annual Development Programme (ADP) comes from external assistance. But World Bank that coordinates the annual meet of multilateral and bilateral donors has hinted that the Paris meeting might not be held before the general elections due middle of next year. Kibria dispelled the fear of a negative impact on the development budget if BDF is deferred, saying the government would get a clear indication of the extent of external assistance in the pre-BDF meeting, planned in February or March in Dhaka. Development partners usually are not inclined to hold aid assessment meeting in an election year to avoid policy shifts in case of change of government. The Finance Minister said the donors’ community and the then government very rightly agreed on the point that such meeting could be much fruitful with the new government. |