DHAKA, Jun 19 (NNN-BSS) – The Asian Development Bank (ADB), yesterday, approved a 250-million-U.S. dollar policy-based loan, to the government of Bangladesh, to help finance reforms, aimed at improving the inclusiveness and responsiveness of the country’s social development and resilience programme.
The Strengthening Social Resilience Programme will include institutional and policy reforms, to address cross-sector issues of social development in Bangladesh, said the Manila-based lender, in a statement received here yesterday.
“Enhancing social protection support is critical to cushioning the effects of the pandemic,” said ADB Senior Social Sector Specialist for South Asia, Hiroko Uchimura-Shiroishi.
He said, “ADB supports the government’s intention to leverage the COVID-19 pandemic as opportunity to strengthen its social protection programme as an essential means of building resilience of the poor and supporting an inclusive recovery.”
According to the statement, Bangladesh has made remarkable progress in reducing poverty over the past two decades. The poverty incidence declined from 48.9 percent in 2000 to 20.5 percent in 2019, it added.– NNN-BSS
