April 21, 2004 ☼ Foreign Affairs

Bangladesh’s finance minister has rushed off to Washington to convince the World Bank and IMF that negative press reports on the country are untrue.

..according to the World Bank’s latest quarterly update on Bangladesh economy, released Sunday, the donors’ ‘negative’ impression on Bangladesh apparently did not derive from the press reports. The WB says it based its conclusions on its interactions with the government, donors, private sector, NGOs and other civil society groups. [Daily Star]

But the current government’s record on governance has set a new low. In a move that may undermine the finance minister’s efforts, USAID has announced that aid to Bangladesh may dry up “due to corruption and the absence of transparency in project implementation”.

Bangladesh cannot afford to antagonise its international donors; and the current government has not endeared itself to India either. Its less than acceptable record in tackling Islamic fundamentalist terrorism has only aggravated its corruption and poor governance. Before attempting to convince the Bank and the Fund, the Bangladesh government needs to put its own house in order first.

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