The World Bank will provide $100 million loan to Bangladesh as a budgetary support to help the disaster-prone country ensure food security, officials said on Sunday. "The rise in food prices, and particularly rice, has really hit poor people in Bangladesh," said Isabel Guerrero, World Bank vice-president for South Asia, at the end of a two-day visit to Dhaka on Sunday.
Guerrero lauded the Bangladesh government for its commitment to economic policy reforms and its anti-corruption drive, a World Bank statement said. "In the first phase, $100 million will be provided for the government's food security programmes for the 2008-09 financial year (July-June)," Xian Zhu, the bank's Bangladesh country director, told reporters.
During her visit, Guerrero met Azizul and the head of the country's army-backed interim government, Fakhruddin Ahmed, and discussed key development priorities including infrastructure, human development, climate change, and the government's governance programme.