Fifty years of partnership between Bangladesh and the World Bank was celebrated recently. Events were held, praises were sung, and the organisation’s managing director of operations visited the country to join celebrations. Now that we have crossed this landmark, perhaps it’s time we analysed what this relationship has truly meant for Bangladesh.
The World Bank is generally known as a donor agency and a development partner. It is also an integral part of our foreign loan infrastructure. “Foreign aid” and “donor agencies” are frequently uttered terms, but their usage is actually misleading. If we take a loan from any bank, such as Sonali Bank or Krishi Bank or Agrani Bank, we don’t call them donors. Neither do we say that they are providing aid to us. We say that we are doing our work using a loan from these banks. The World Bank functions in a similar way, and the money to pay them…
