Rights group urges govt to reject conditional lending

VOICE, a rights research organisation, on Sunday called upon the government to reject ‘destructive foreign aid’ that has crippled national policymaking by robbing it of ‘sovereignty and independence’.
The rights leaders, at a press conference ahead of the meeting of the Bangladesh Development Forum, insisted that the government should announce when it will stop receiving conditional external assistance and begin to prepare the national budget with domestic resources only.
They added that only 25 per cent of foreign aid and loans reached the target group while the rest went to auxiliary and support services including the fees of foreign consultants.
‘The people of Bangladesh are becoming more and more indebted due to the loans given by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund and thus have become more vulnerable to foreign manipulation,’ Ahmed Swapan Mahmud, executive director of VOICE, told reporters at the National Press Club.
He pointed out that the lender-driven Poverty Reduction Strategy had failed to reduce poverty — rather the percentage of the poor has increased in recent years.
Farjana Akter of VOICE read out the statement according to which the World Bank’s conditions have increased by almost 70 per cent on an average from around 50 per cent between 2002 and 2005. It has attached 50 conditions for each loan, she pointed out.
 Arup Rahee, a singer, urged the government to reject conditional lending and demanded that all loan agreements must be made public to ensure transparency and accountability.

http://www.newagebd.com/2010/feb/15/nat.html