The significant increase in foreign aid disbursement will provide adequate and timely support to the country to help implement a comprehensive and all-encompassing development agenda. We think the departments concerned will enhance the utilising capacity as the country is performing well and is on the track towards attaining many targets of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The foreign aid or assistance has been playing a crucial role in the country’s overall development story. It is good to note that the economic relations division (ERD), a division of the ministry of finance, is taking constant initiatives to ensure maximum utilisation of project assistance allocated to Annual Development Programme (ADP).
According to a report published in this daily on Tuesday, foreign aid disbursement increased to US$3.72 billion in Jul-Feb period of the current FY from US$3.48 billion in same previous period. Foreign aid commitment rose to US$3.96 billion in FY21 Jul-Feb period from US$3.25 billion in the same period of FY20, the report adds.
The government agencies should remain cautious
in terms of embarking on fresh projects as we
have a long way to go to achieve the SDGs
But it has been noticed that foreign aid utilisation continued declining over the previous years due to lack of proper design of projects. Moreover, people engaged in project preparation are not properly trained. As a result, the country continued to struggle to utilise foreign aid properly due to capacity constraints. Therefore, necessary steps should be taken to ensure that foreign aid is properly utilised.
The achievement of SDGs, however, will critically depend on the availability of resources including external support. We think if the utilisation of foreign aid is ensured within the time frame, it will help finance social protection and macroeconomic stabilisation measures. As the number of development programmes of the government is increasing day by day, we think the disbursement of foreign aid will increase further in the coming years.
Simultaneously, the government should be more careful in approving awarding contracts, appointing consultants and releasing funds, and strengthen coordination among financiers in case of multi-donor funded projects. Also, the government agencies should remain cautious in terms of embarking on fresh projects as we have a long way to go to achieve the SDGs.
