SEOUL– South Korea said Monday it plans to provide US$100 million in financing for a joint project with multilateral lenders to help Bangladesh recover from the fallout of the pandemic.
South Korea’s Economic Development Cooperation Fund (EDCF) will offer its low-interest rate loans for the $700 million joint project to support Bangladesh’s economy, the finance ministry said.
The project will also be supported by the Asian Development Bank with $250 million, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) with $250 million and OPEC Fund for International Development with $100 million.
It is the first time the EDCF and the AIIB have cooperated in providing joint financing to an economic project in developing countries.
South Korea launched the EDCF program in 1987 in an effort to help other developing countries with their basic infrastructure.
Bangladesh has reported a total of 1.57 million COVID-19 cases, with 27,922 deaths, according to data from the website of Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center.
The International Monetary Fund expects the South Asian country to grow 4.6 percent this year and 6.5 percent next year.
Source: Yonhap News Agency