Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)- The central bank has again sought two years’ time from the World Bank (WB) for implementation of the Central Bank Strengthening Project (CBSP).
Under the proposed time frame, the CBSP will now be completed by December 2011 instead of the existing Dec. 31 deadline, officials of the Bangladesh Bank (BB), the country’s central bank, said on Monday.
“The central bank has decided to implement the CBSP fully by the end of 2011,” General Manager of the CBSP Cell Abdul Haque told BBN in the capital, Dhaka, adding that the networking of the central bank would be completed by the end of December this year under the CBSP.
The implementation of the four- year project, funded by the WB, started in 2003. Being unable to complete the major components of the project on schedule, the BB had sought earlier two years’ more time from the WB, which is providing $37 million, out of a total project cost of $46.13 million. The multilateral lending agency had also agreed.
“As far as the proposed project restructuring is concerned, the BB has submitted to the WB a proposal to restructure the project in order to reallocate project resources in line with BB’s renewed reform agenda,” the WB said in an ‘Information Note’ issued in Dhaka on Monday.
Given that the government has appointed a new governor for the central bank of Bangladesh, who has expressed his strong support for the project, the WB has agreed to take immediate steps to restructure the project, the Note added.
BBN/SS/SI/AD-23June09-1:35 am (BST)
