Lenders disbursed only 40 per cent of $4,284.24 million of the foreign loans and grants they committed to release in first 11 months of the current financial year, said officials of the Economic Relations Division.   
The ERD data showed Bangladesh received $1,718.60 million in July-May. Of the disbursed amount, $1,235.92 million was received in loans while $482.68 million in grants.
The amount disbursed in loans and grants in 11 months of the current financial year was higher than the amount of $1,419.28 million disbursed in July-May of FY 2010-2011.
But, the gap between the commitment and the actual release continued to put pressure on the country’s balance of payment, said ERD officials.
ERD officials said like the previous years, disbursement of foreign loans and grants remained disappointing due largely to failure in implementing the projects.
Some complexities related to project implementation process and lenders’ foot-dragging were also responsible for the slow disbursement, they said.
Of the loan amount disbursed in July-May of this financial year, the Asian Development Bank released the highest $490.98 million, followed by $409.93 million by the IDA and $207.97 million was released by Japan.
The UK’s Department for International Development provided the highest grant of $132.23 million, followed by the World Bank’s $107.36 million, UNDP’s $47.41 million and Germany’s $42.19 million.
During July-May, Bangladesh made a repayment of $848.70 million including $674.56 million in principal amount and $174.15 million as interest.
In the same period of the last fiscal, the country made a repayment of $819.59 million including $650.33 million as principal and $169.26 million as interest.
In the recent move to expedite fund release, the government and the development partners decided to visit 22 foreign-aided projects within December to identify problems in the implementation of the projects.