Free Essay

Foreign Aid to Bangladesh

In:

Submitted By rafaet
Words 1264
Pages 6
Foreign Aid to Bangladesh

With the population of 120 million and a GNP of US$170 (UNDP), Bangladesh remains heavily dependent on foreign aid for its development, socio-economic programmes and waging war in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHITTAGONG). Statistics indicate that military expenditure in Bangladesh is officially 15% of the budget. Bangladesh spends about US$400 million on defense annually. Official figures of military expenditure give a distorted picture. It is common knowledge that many military expenses, such as food, housing, infrastructure, are accounted for under other budgets and therefore are not marked as military expenses. According to unofficial sources, Bangladesh spends an extra $125 million on counter-insurgency in the CHITTAGONG annually. The USA, Great Britain and China continue to provide training to the Bangladesh armed forces. While Japan, USA, Middle Eastern and European countries continue to be the major aid donors to Bangladesh. The following table shows the amount of financial aid Bangladesh was receiving in 1988-91 when the regime was at the height of genocidal campaign in the CHITTAGONG, unfortunately the trend still continues.

Increasingly donor governments have made human rights an issue in the disbursement of development aid. Up to now, however, donor governments have not been willing to apply the human rights criterion at all strictly. In Bangladesh they have shied away from making aid conditional on the observance of human rights in the country, including the CHITTAGONG. Donor governments have continued to give huge amounts of aid to Bangladesh while they go no further than expressing 'concern' about the situation in the CHITTAGONG when they meet the Bangladesh government e.g. during the annual Bangladesh Aid Consortium meeting, held in Paris each April. None has considered taking more concrete action such as making continued aid to Bangladesh conditional on a speedy solution to the CHITTAGONG crisis, or applying cuts in the aid disbursed, despite questions raised in some of their national parliaments. Recently, the European Economic Community (EEC) has expressed its willingness to fund withdrawal programmes of the Bangladeshi settlers from the CHITTAGONG, but EEC is fully continuing its other aid programmes in Bangladesh. Such contradictory behaviour raises questions about the donors' real commitment to human rights in Bangladesh and elsewhere. The donor community continues to dodge its responsibility by ignoring or down-playing the fact that only thanks to their aid, the government of Bangladesh is able to maintain a huge military force in the CHITTAGONG. After years of serious allegations of human rights violations in the CHITTAGONG, the donors can no longer plead innocence, nor hide behind the argument that they are not funding development projects in the CHITTAGONG. Human rights violations are a national problem, and have to be addressed by means of national measures in Bangladesh. Those who fund development programmes in the CHITTAGONG have allowed themselves to become willing instruments in the hands of the Bangladesh government and army, and can be called direct accomplices to the violations. One of these is the Asian Development Bank, which has funded huge schemes in the CTG; others are those governments which give direct support or training to the Bangladesh military.

Apart from the national development programmes the Bangladesh Government often seeks foreign aid for the economic and social development of the indigenous people of the CHITTAGONG. After receiving the aid the military regime uses the money for the military and for the Bangladeshi settlers and not for the local people. For example,

• USAID (United States Agency for International Development Financed Kaptai Hydroelectric Dam benefited the outsider Bangladeshi settlers, while dispossessing thousands of Jummas of their arable prime land.

• SIDA (Swedish International Development Agency Funded Forest Development Project created job opportunities for the Bangladeshis only.

• UNICEF (United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund) Aided Drinking water Supply Scheme benefited only the army camps, the Bangladeshi settler colonies, urban centers, and concentration camps.

• WHO (World Health Organization) Organized Malaria Eradication Project has been used to protect the armed forces and the Bangladeshi settlers.

• ADAB (Australian Development Assistance Bureau) Sponsored Chengi Valley Road Building Project has been used to facilitate military deployment in the remote parts of the CHITTAGONG and to open up the interior to the Bangladeshi immigration.

• ADB (Asian Development Bank) Assisted Livestock and Fisheries Programmes have benefited the Bangladeshi settlers only.Also Financed Joutha Khamer Projects or Joint Farming Projects are really concentration camps for the Jumma farmers who have been forced to leave their ancestral homes and farmlands to accommodate the Bangladeshi invaders.

The Jumma people and various Humam Rights Groups had appealed to donor countries to stop their aids to Bangladesh. Sweden responded to their appeal by stopping the Forest Development Project on the grounds that the Bangladesh Government refused to employ the Jumma people in the project. Australia, similarly, pulled out of the road building project because the road helped the military and the Bangladeshi settlers to move deep into the Jumma homeland.

All development programmes in the CHITTAGONG are controlled by the military and are part of the counter-insurgency programme. The CHITTAGONG Development Board, the only government development agency in the CHITTAGONG, is still chaired by the GOC (General Officer in Command), the highest army commander in the region. The Anti-Slavery Society 'recommends to the international funding agencies and national governments providing development aid for projects in the Chittagong Hill Tracts that they withdraw support where such projects are against the wishes and interests of the indigenous population and that all future projects are carried out only after consultation with indigenous people's representatives. So far donor governments and international donor organisations have chosen to sit on the fence. They have been unwilling to develop alternatives to the present aid policy or make a positive contribution to a solution of the CHITTAGONG conflict. One such possibility would be to fund the resettlement of Bangladeshi settlers outside the CHITTAGONG.

Conclusion:
Bangladesh has made significant strides in its economic sector performance since independence in 1971. Although the economy has improved vastly in the 1990s, Bangladesh still suffers in the area of foreign trade in South Asian region. Despite major impediments to growth like the inefficiency of state-owned enterprises, a rapidly growing labor force that cannot be absorbed by agriculture, inadequate power supplies, and slow implementation of economic reforms, Bangladesh has made some headway improving the climate for foreign investors and liberalizing the capital markets; for example, it has negotiated with foreign firms for oil and gas exploration, better countrywide distribution of cooking gas, and the construction of natural gas pipelines and power stations. Progress on other economic reforms has been halting because of opposition from the bureaucracy, public sector unions, and other vested interest groups.
The especially severe floods of 1998 increased the flow of international aid. So far the global financial crisis has not had a major impact on the economy. The World Bank predicted economic growth of 6.5% for current year. Foreign aid has seen a decline of 10% over the last few months but economists see this as a good sign for self-reliance.There has been 18% growth in exports over the last 9 months and remittance inflow has increased at a remarkable 25% rate.
Fiscal Year Total Export Total Import Foreign Remittance Earnings
2007–2008 $14.11b $25.205b $8.9b
2008–2009 $15.56b $22.00b+ $9.68b
2009-2010 $16.7b ~$24b $10.87b
2010-2011 $22.93b $32b $11.65b

Reference:
1) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Bangladesh#Overview
2) http://www.angelfire.com/ab/jumma/faid.html
3) www.bdiusa.org/Publications/JBS/Volumes/Volume2/jbs2.2-2.pdf

Similar Documents

Free Essay

Foreign Aid and Development of Bangladesh

...Introduction: Foreign Aid any capital inflow or other assistance given to a country which would not generally have been provided by natural market forces. In Bangladesh, foreign aid serves to bridge the gap between savings and investments and make up the deficits in the balance of payments. Foreign aid is a major means of financing the country's economic development. Economic literature generally classifies foreign aid into four main types. First, the long-term loans are usually repayable by the recipient country in foreign currency over ten or twenty years. Secondly, the soft loans repayable in local currency or in foreign currency but over a much longer period and with very low interest rates. The softest are the straight grants often given to the less developed countries. Sale of surplus products to a country in return for payment in the country's local currency is the third type and finally, the technical assistance given to the developing countries comprises the fourth type of foreign aid. Foreign aid is more like an investment in a risky market situation. The relative weighting of advantages and disadvantages depends on the planning behind the foreign aid and how well-orchestrated it is. Economic advantages: stimulated economic development in the receiver's country (better infrastructure, more education etc.) leads to economic growth. It can also create jobs as increased investment leads to more employment; this means less needs to be spent on unemployment benefits...

Words: 4859 - Pages: 20

Free Essay

Foreign Aid and Development of Bangladesh

...thesis examines the impact of aid on Bangladesh and the inability of aid to lay the foundations for the country’s solid economic growth. It is argued that while aid has helped to sustain the present levels of per capita national output, it has been relatively ineffective in inducing the qualitative changes needed for achieving significant increases in production and improvement in income distribution. Findings imply that donors have responded as a group to changes in Bangladesh’s development requirements but major donors have also responded both to the country’s development requirements as well as their own interests. Donors’ own interests hamper aid effectiveness in the country’s development endeavours. The thesis investigates whether aid to Bangladesh has exerted any impact on the country’s economic growth. Following recent literature, the thesis examines whether the impact of aid on growth is conditional upon measures of policy and governance. This has not been attempted intensely in the past aid effectiveness literature. The thesis disaggregates total aid into its various components to examine whether aid effectiveness is conditional upon the type of aid. Results indicate that there is little evidence that foreign aid alone has contributed to economic growth in a country. But there is some evidence that aid can be effective at increasing growth while a country has good governance and macroeconomic policy environment in place. Given that Bangladesh suffers from high incidence...

Words: 404 - Pages: 2

Free Essay

Fdi in Bangladesh a Trend

...Country Paper Aid Flow to Bangladesh and the Question of Accountability of CSOs at National Level to the People They Serve By Shadnaz Khan* Bangladesh, like other poor and less developed countries, has been a regular receiver of foreign aid or external assistance in order to lessen the gap between savings and investment and to mitigate the balance of payment deficit. However, there has been serious debate over the issues such as low performance in aid-utilization, donors’ stringent and one-size-fits-all conditionalities and global aid politics that are believed to undermine the potential benefits that aid could have brought to the development scenario of the country. The apprehension over aid issues is felt in different countries around the world and also among the donors themselves. As a result, the idea of aid effectiveness has received increasing attention and importance in international discussions that generates hope that the international structure of aid would create sustainable development outcome for the poor countries. This paper is divided into two parts. In the first part, a general description of aid flows to Bangladesh has been presented and in the second part, an attempt has been made to assess the donor support models for CSOs in managing aid at country level and the scope for ensuring their accountability to their primary constituents, i.e., the people they serve in Bangladesh. A General Scenario of Aid flow to Bangladesh From 1972 to 30 June 2006...

Words: 3733 - Pages: 15

Free Essay

Economic Growth & External Sector Behavior

...sector of Bangladesh and its impact on GDP. It involves economic models developed to determine the impact of each sector-Export, Import, Foreign Aid and Remittance, on GDP of Bangladesh. It also involves an analysis of the behavior of these factors in three SAARC countries and the application of the regression model developed. The economic model was developed based on the past behavior of GDP and the external sector. It indicated that Remittance is the sector having the most significant impact on GDP and aid the second most significant. While imports negatively affect economic growth, exports have played a very important role over the period. The remittance of Bangladesh has been increasing over the last few years. Hence, its impact on GDP has also been rising. In the span of 34 years export as percentage of GDP increased from 2.2% to 15.4%. Hence, performance was moderately good. The economy has been suffering from ever increasing trade deficits, despite several export promotional measures. Large import payments mainly account for this problem. Foreign aid shows large fluctuations over the period Finally, an analysis was conducted on the behavior of the external sectors in the SAARC countries using the regression model. Export was found to be the dominant sector in India, while imports had the minimum impact on GDP. Pakistan was found to be more dependent on export and foreign aid than on remittance and import. Sri Lanka’s economy is highly correlated to remittance, aids and export...

Words: 12238 - Pages: 49

Premium Essay

Analysis on the Growth of Balance of Payment and Sectoral Growth in Bangladesh

...Introduction Bangladesh characterised by high population density, low resource base, recurrent natural disasters and persistent socio-cultural instability has come a long way since its independence in 1971. The country has performed well especially in recent years, showing that a country can achieve significan human and social development at relatively low levels of income along with creating strong fundamentals and future growth. The integration of developing and least developed countries with the global economy increased sharply in the 1990s with change in their economic policies and lowering of barriers to trade and investment. Foreign direct investment (FDI) is expected to benefit poor countries such as Bangladesh in a number of ways. Firstly, it supplements domestic investment which is low due to lack of resources in these countries. Secondly, FDI is expected to generate employment, transfer, increase domestic competition and bring other positive externalities such as transfer of good practices. Bangladesh offers attractive investment opportunities to foreign investors and has adopted policies to attract FDI into the country. In fact Bangladesh seems to offer one of the most liberal FDI regimes in South Asia. The economic model was developed based on the past behavior of GDP and the external sector. It indicated that FDI is the sector having the most significant impact on GDP and aid the second most significant. While imports negatively affect economic growth, exports have...

Words: 9177 - Pages: 37

Premium Essay

Bangladesh: Development Outcomes and Challenges in the Context of Globalization

...1. Introduction Bangladesh faces the challenge of achieving accelerated economic growth and alleviating the massive poverty that afflicts nearly two-fifths of its 135 million population. Strategies for meeting this challenge have included a shift away from state-bureaucratic controls and industrial autarky towards economic liberalization and integration with the global economy. These policy reforms were initiated in the mid-1980s against the backdrop of serious macroeconomic imbalances, caused in part by the declining level of foreign aid and in part by a preceding episode of severe deterioration in the country’s terms of trade. The policy reforms in the 1980s included the withdrawal of food and agricultural subsidies, privatization of state-owned enterprises, financial liberalization, and withdrawal of quantitative import restrictions. The beginning of the 1990s saw the launching of a more comprehensive reform program, which coincided with a transition to parliamentary democracy from a semi-autocratic rule. These later reforms were particularly aimed at moving towards an open economy – such as making the currency convertible on the current account, reducing import duties generally to much lower levels, and removing virtually all controls on the movements of foreign private capital. Besides, fiscal reforms were undertaken including the introduction of the value-added tax. During the 1990s, notable progress was made in economic performance. Along with maintaining economic...

Words: 7698 - Pages: 31

Free Essay

Research Proposal Issues in Third World Politics

...the root causes of food insecurity in the following two countries: Bangladesh and Niger.’ Food, water, clothing, education and shelter are the basic needs for all human being. As a citizen of world’s one of the poorest country, Bangladesh, I want to explore and understand the significance of famine and starvation and how it is related with food insecurity. The paper will also study the origin of food insecurity and investigate the causes. I have chosen to research on Bangladesh and Niger, two of the low-ranked on United Nation’s Human Development Index (HDI) countries. Hundreds of millions of people, concentrated toward children and elderly, are suffering due to famine and experts are expecting this number to grow if adequate measures are not taken to prevent it. Sub-Sahara African nations are mostly the victims of extreme cases of famine but other continents also have some impacts. For instance, South Asian countries heavily depend on monsoon rain that makes them vulnerable to crop failure. On the man-made side, government instability and policies also play a big role. The after effects of such event could also lead to economic failure of the population. Countries with uncontrolled population, for instance Bangladesh and India, also suffer from extreme form of malnutrition and hunger as it becomes day by day difficult to produce adequate food for local citizens. In such cases, government asks for foreign aid to stabilize the situation. When food security is concerned, one...

Words: 475 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Vision 2012 Areality

...CHALLENGES FOR BANGLADESH Course Name : International Economics SUBMITTED BY: Muhammad Jahangir Alam ID:40814010 14TH Batch MBA (Marketing), University of Dhaka. Date of Submission: 28.12.2010 Introduction Born from the great Liberation War of 1971, Bangladesh is a non-communal, progressive, democratic state that has worked to establish an economy and society free of inequality, and to nurture a culture of democracy and respect for human rights for all fostered by patriotism in all areas of social existence. Along with a tolerant democracy, the aspiration is for a more caring society based on a system of values rooted in the culture and traditions of Bangladesh. The country’s value system will develop as it progresses, and the values will translate from collective to individual perspectives creating a collective drive to work together towards national development. Bangladesh’s heritage, rich in content and diversity, shall have a place in our present and be the anchor for the country’s ambitions. Globalization in the broadest sense implies integration of economies and societies across the globe through the flow of technology, trade and capital. Economic globalization is a process of rapid economic integration between countries that is driven by the increasing liberalization of international trade and foreign direct investment. Liberalization of the economy in Bangladesh seemed an inevitable...

Words: 3290 - Pages: 14

Premium Essay

Accounting for Ngo's in Bangladesh

...countries. These organizations are not directly affiliated with any national government, but often have a significant Impact on the social, economy and political activity of the country or region involved. So, we can say that NGOs have become major players in the field of international and national development. But Bangladesh has largely failed to assist the poor or reduce poverty because of limited resources and planning, while NGOs have grown dramatically, but it ostensibly fails to fill this gap. There are more and bigger NGOs here than in any other country of equivalent size. Here, NGOs have mainly functioned to service the needs of the landless, usually assisted by foreign donor funding as a counterpoint to the state's efforts. Besides all these, in the field of NGO, Financial Reporting process and application of accounting is disgraceful. NGOs in Bangladesh have increasingly become subject to question and criticism from the government, political parties, intellectuals and the public in genus for misuse of funds, gender discrimination, and nepotism. Absence of proper guidelines in preparing financial statements and reports makes it more complex. The government of Bangladesh doesn’t have any unique rules for preparing the financial reports. In this report we will discuss about the financial reporting and Accounting system of NGOs and hopefully, the analysis and discussion of reporting systems will give guidance and support to the NGOs about the generation of accounting systems and...

Words: 4751 - Pages: 20

Premium Essay

Leather

...The economy of Bangladesh is a rapidly developing market-based economy.[3] Its per capita income in 2010 was est. US$1,700 (adjusted by purchasing power parity). According to the International Monetary Fund, Bangladesh ranked as the 43rd largest economy in the world in 2010 in PPP terms and 57th largest in nominal terms, among the Next Eleven or N-11 of Goldman Sachs and D-8 economies, with a gross domestic product of US$269.3 billion in PPP terms and US$104.9 billion in nominal terms. The economy has grown at the rate of 6-7% p.a. over the past few years. More than half of the GDP belongs to the service sector, a major number of nearly half of Bangladeshis are employed in the agriculture sector, with RMG, textiles, leather, jute, fish, vegetables, leather and leather goods, ceramics, fruits as other important produce. Remittances from Bangladeshis working overseas, mainly in the Middle East is the major source of foreign exchange earnings; exports of garments and textiles are the other main sources of foreign exchange earning. Ship building and cane cultivation have become a major force of growth. GDP's rapid growth due to sound financial control and regulations have also contributed to its growth. However, foreign direct investment is yet to rise significantly. Bangladesh has made major strides in its human development index.[4] The land is devoted mainly to rice and jute cultivation as well as fruits and produce, although wheat production has increased in recent years; the...

Words: 1644 - Pages: 7

Premium Essay

Term Paper

...operation in the country on June 3, 1996, and have been involved in philanthropic and social activities since then. It established Dutch-Bangla Bank Foundation (DBBF) in June 2001 to conduct humanitarian activities including rehabilitation of the destitute. The bank has so far taken various Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programmes including scholarship programme for the meritorious and needy students, blind education and rehabilitation organisation, HIV/AIDS assistance programme, smile brighter programme, support to acid and dowry victims, vesico vaginal fistula (VVF) operation to improve women’s reproductive health, disaster management programme, and donation to different organisations. The DBBL received an international award on CSR from Asian Institute of Management, Manila in the 3rd Annual Asian CSR Award ceremony. Dutch-Bangla Bank Limited a Bangladeshi-European joint venture scheduled bank with equity participation from the Netherlands Development Finance Company. It started banking operations in Bangladesh on 3 June 1996. The authorised and paid up capital of the bank is Tk 400 million and Tk 180 million respectively. The paid up capital represents the face value of 1.8 million ordinary shares of Tk 100 each and is fully...

Words: 3110 - Pages: 13

Premium Essay

Global Financial Crisis

...affect Bangladesh economy as badly as it can to other developed economy because economy of Bangladesh is not so dependent on international capital or foreign investment. But, still there are and will be some shocks of ongoing global financial crisis available for Bangladesh economy. So, Bangladesh economy will be affected by global financial crisis. Global financial crisis might reduce overseas job opportunities and export earnings. Global financial crisis may turn into a recession. Economy of developing countries including Bangladesh is already going through recession. Bangladesh is a low income country. If global financial crisis continuous then economy of Bangladesh will be suffering. Negative impacts of global financial crisis are beginning to show on the increasingly globalizing economy of Bangladesh. Export growth rate of Bangladesh has turned negative. Export of non-apparels items is being reduced. Depreciation of currencies by competing countries caused erosion of Bangladesh’s competitive strength in the global market. Remittance earnings could be badly affected in near future because number of job seekers going abroad halved as some countries either revoked or have stopped issuing new visas. So, global financial crisis is likely to have negative impacts on GDP growth of Bangladesh. As a result of global financial crisis, macroeconomic performance of Bangladesh is being weakened. Global financial crisis is likely to badly affect exports of Bangladesh as well as aid-flow...

Words: 1547 - Pages: 7

Free Essay

Business Combination

...2/8/2016 Problems and Prospects for Modern Business Enterprises of Bangladesh Submitted to: Dr. Sabnam Jahan Associate Professor Department of Management University of Dhaka. Submitted by: Abul Kalam Azad EMBA Student code: 3-16-32-063 Course code & Title: EM: 501 Introduction to Business Abul Kalam Azad BANGLADESH POLICE Table of Contents Introduction ................................................................................................................................................................. 2 Business Background of Bangladesh ....................................................................................................................... 2 Problems and Prospects for Modern Enterprises ............................................................................................... 4 Poverty and inequality ........................................................................................................................................... 4 Social development ................................................................................................................................................ 4 Political affairs, good governance and human rights ...................................................................................... 4 Security matters ..................................................................................................................................................... 5 Indigenous...

Words: 3333 - Pages: 14

Premium Essay

Management of Financial Resources

...* Budget making process. Midterm budget framework. Budget Defined * A budget (from old French  bougette, purse) is a financial plan and a list of all planned expenses and revenues.  * A government budget is a legal document that is often passed by the legislature, and approved by the chief executive-or president. * The two basic elements: Revenues and Expenses. * Revenues are derived primarily from taxes and non-tax revenue. * Government expenses include spending on current goods and services, which economists call government consumption ; government investment expenditures such as infrastructure investment or research expenditure; and transfer payments like unemployment or retirement benefits, Social Safety nets Basis of Budget * Budgets have an economic, political and technical basis. * Unlike a pure economic budget, they are not entirely designed to allocate scarce resources for the best economic use. * They also have a political basis wherein different interests push and pull in an attempt to obtain benefits and avoid burdens. * The technical element is the forecast of the likely levels of revenues and expenses Budget Cycle * Budget Preparation: The first phase of the budget cycle involves preparation by the departments/agencies, ministries and finally ministry of Finance * Legislative Approval: Typically, the legislature has the power to approve or reject a proposed budget. They review it and vote. If approved, it moves...

Words: 6348 - Pages: 26

Premium Essay

Bangladesh Macroeconomy

...Bangladesh Economic Update Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) February 2012 Bangladesh Economic Update Volume 3, No. 2, February 2012 Acknowledgement: Bangladesh Economic Update is an output of the Economic Policy Unit of the Unnayan Onneshan, a multidisciplinary research centre based in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The report is prepared by a team, under the guidance of Rashed Al Mahmud Titumir and Palash Kanti Das. The team comprises Nibedita Roy and A. Z. M. Saleh. © Copyright: Unnayan Onneshan-The Innovators The content of this publication may be reproduced for non-commercial purposes with proper citation (please send output to the address mentioned below). Any other form of reproduction, storage in a retrieval system or transmission by any means for commercial purposes, requires permission from the Unnayan Onneshan-The Innovators. For orders and request please contact: Unnayan Onneshan - The Innovators 16/2, Indira Road, Farmgate Dhaka-1215, Bangladesh Tell: + (880-2) 8158274, 9110636 Fax: + (880-2) 8159135 E-mail: info@unnayan.org Web: www.unnayan.org Bangladesh Economic Update, February 2012 2|P a g e Bangladesh Economic Update Vol. 3, No. 2, February 2012 Economic Policy Unit Unnayan Onneshan 1. INTRODUCTION The current issue of the Bangladesh Economic Update focuses on the magnitude, dynamics, sectoral distribution, and countrywise sources of FDI inflow in the country. The flow of foreign direct investment is of utmost importance in the current backdrop of overall...

Words: 5140 - Pages: 21