Fund crunch barrier to achieving MDGs

Bangladesh progress report unveiled

Despite taking major strides in achieving the targets of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG), challenges ahead of Bangladesh call for mobilising required resources and targeted interventions in areas where the nation is lagging behind, according to the "MDG: Bangladesh Progress Report 2015".
The report said resource constraint was one of the major impediments to achieving the MDGs.
The General Economic Division (GED) of the Planning Commission unveiled the report at a city hotel yesterday.
Presided over by planning minister AHM Mustfa Kamal, the programme was addressed by finance minister AMA Muhith as chief guest. Among others, Foreign Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali, state minister for finance and planning MA Mannan, governor of Bangladesh Bank (BB) Dr Atiur Rahman and UN resident Coordinator Bangladesh, Robert D Watkins addressed the programme. GED member Professor Shamsul Alam made a presentation on the report.
The GED publication of “MDG Financing Strategy for Bangladesh” estimated that USD 78.2 billion was required for attaining all the MDGs in Bangladesh during 2011-15.
According to the study, Bangladesh needed foreign assistance of USD 5.0 and USD 3.0 billion per year under the baseline and high growth scenarios, respectively. The MDG Progress Report 2015 reveals that from 1990-91 to 2013-14, Bangladesh, on an average, received USD 1.74 billion ODA per year, which has been far short of the required USD 3.0 billion per year.
Hence the estimated resource requirement for attaining all the MDGs in Bangladesh indicates that the development partners should generously support Bangladesh’s endeavour for achieving the targets set under the MDGs.
Speaking on the occasion, finance minister AMA Muhith said some countries have almost fully succeeded in achieving the goals and targets of the MDGs like Bangladesh, while others have not, but they never gave up.
He said that for the whole world, it would take about 15 years (by 2030) to eradicate poverty, but for Bangladesh it is a matter of four years.
The finance minister said South-South cooperation, which has been a very important consideration for Bangladesh and some other countries, has made good progress. “We hope from the advancement made in the last 15 years, we will continue to move forward over the next 15 years, which is called the SDGs,” he added.
Planning minister AHM Mustafa Kamal said that regarding attainments of the MDGs, Bangladesh has done a splendid job in a number of areas, while the country’s growth is meaningful and is a balanced growth.
“The MDGs are the beginning of the next bigger milestone -- that the world has to be completely free from hunger before 2030,” he said, hoping that Bangladesh would be completely free from hunger by 2028 based on the annual decline of population at a rate of 1.74 per cent.
The report shows that Bangladesh has registered remarkable progresses in the areas of poverty alleviation, ensuring food security, primary school enrolment, gender parity at the primary and secondary level education, lowering the infant and under-five mortality rate and maternal mortality ratio, improving immunisation coverage, and reducing the incidence of communicable diseases.

 

 

Fund crunch barrier to achieving MDGs

Bangladesh progress report unveiled

Despite taking major strides in achieving the targets of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG), challenges ahead of Bangladesh call for mobilising required resources and targeted interventions in areas where the nation is lagging behind, according to the MDG: Bangladesh Progress Report 2015. The report said resource constraint was one of the major impediments to achieving the MDGs. The General Economic Division (GED) of the Planning Commission unveiled the report at a city hotel yesterday. Presided over by planning minister AHM Mustfa Kamal, the programme was addressed by finance minister AMA Muhith as chief guest. Among others, Foreign Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali, state minister for finance and planning MA Mannan, governor of Bangladesh Bank (BB) Dr Atiur Rahman and UN resident Coordinator Bangladesh, Robert D Watkins addressed the programme. GED member Professor Shamsul Alam made a presentation on the report. The GED publication of MDG Financing Strategy for Bangladesh estimated that USD 78.2 billion was required for attaining all the MDGs in Bangladesh during 2011-15. According to the study, Bangladesh needed foreign assistance of USD 5.0 and USD 3.0 billion per year under the baseline and high growth scenarios, respectively. The MDG Progress Report 2015 reveals that from 1990-91 to 2013-14, Bangladesh, on an average, received USD 1.74 billion ODA per year, which has been far short of the required USD 3.0 billion per year. Hence the estimated resource requirement for attaining all the MDGs in Bangladesh indicates that the development partners should generously support Bangladeshs endeavour for achieving the targets set under the MDGs. Speaking on the occasion, finance minister AMA Muhith said some countries have almost fully succeeded in achieving the goals and targets of the MDGs like Bangladesh, while others have not, but they never gave up. He said that for the whole world, it would take about 15 years (by 2030) to eradicate poverty, but for Bangladesh it is a matter of four years. The finance minister said South-South cooperation, which has been a very important consideration for Bangladesh and some other countries, has made good progress. We hope from the advancement made in the last 15 years, we will continue to move forward over the next 15 years, which is called the SDGs, he added. Planning minister AHM Mustafa Kamal said that regarding attainments of the MDGs, Bangladesh has done a splendid job in a number of areas, while the countrys growth is meaningful and is a balanced growth. The MDGs are the beginning of the next bigger milestone -- that the world has to be completely free from hunger before 2030, he said, hoping that Bangladesh would be completely free from hunger by 2028 based on the annual decline of population at a rate of 1.74 per cent. The report shows that Bangladesh has registered remarkable progresses in the areas of poverty alleviation, ensuring food security, primary school enrolment, gender parity at the primary and secondary level education, lowering the infant and under-five mortality rate and maternal mortality ratio, improving immunisation coverage, and reducing the incidence of communicable diseases.