Govt borrows $1.0b loan for six entities

Rezaul Karim | Published: October 07, 2017 12:25:48 | Updated: October 24, 2017 23:56:42

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The government has borrowed nearly US$ 1.0 billion (100 crore) from international lenders in favour of its different entities, officials said.

In late September, the standing committee on non-concessional loan (SCNCL) of the government approved six loan deals in this regard.

Some US$ 550.40 million has been approved to install the floating terminal -single point mooring (SPM)- with double pipeline. Of the loan, US$ 467.84 million would come from the Chinese government while US$ 82.56 million would be provided by the government, according to the approval given at the standing committee meeting.

The tenure of the loan is 15 years with a five-year grace period. The rate of interest is 2 per cent and commitment and management fees are 0.25 per cent.

The project will be implemented by Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC).

China would bankroll US$ 156.56 million to the development of National ICT Infra-Network for Bangladesh government phase-3 (info-sarker phase-3) project. The project has been undertaken by the ICT division. Under the project, some 2,600 union parishads will get high-speed internet connection through fibre optic cables, according to an official data.

The tenure of the loan is 15 years with a five-year grace period. The rate of interest is 0.2 per cent and management and commitment fees are 0.25 per cent.

Besides, US$ 147.12 million loan would be taken from Islamic Development Bank (IDB) for a prepayment metering system project to be implemented by the power division.

The loan bears an interest rate of six-month LIBOR plus 155 bps to be paid in 15 years with four years of gestation period, according to the approval given at the standing committee meeting.

Some US$ 66.50 million loan has been approved to re-finance 'delivery payment' to the Boeing for procurement of four 787-800 aircraft. The loan bears an interest rate of three-month LIBOR rate. The loan has been taken from Sonali Bank, UK.

Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development would provide US$ 51 million loan to Bangladesh for urban infrastructure development in 51 municipalities in the northern region.

The loan money will be used, among other things, for construction of 404-kilometre long urban roads in 51 small and medium suburbs in Rajshahi and Rangpur divisions. It is under the local government division, official sources said.

On the other hand, Saudi Development Fund (SDF) would give a loan worth US$ 30 million for establishment of burn and plastic surgery units. The project will be implemented by the health directorate.

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