World Bank to help recover Bangladesh's stolen assets

World Bank South Asia Region Vice President Praful C Patel Saturday said the Bank would provide assistance to Bangladeshi military backed caretaker government's anti-corruption drive and help recover the stolen assets.

Media reports here said millions of dollars were siphoned off by some corrupt politicians and deposited in foreign banks during the previous regime of former prime minister Khaleda Zia.

Khaleda's eldest son Tarique Rahman along with 170 former ministers, MPs and businessmen were arrested on charges of corruption by the military backed interim government.

"The stolen assets must be recovered and the World Bank stands ready to provide in this regard," Patel told a press conference here after concluding a three-day visit.

Patel suggested quick prosecutions of the accused corrupts, who were arrested in recent anti-graft drive.

Focusing on credible prosecutions of several big fish, rather than casting the net too widely, will send the right signals and enhance the credibility of the Anti-Corruption Commission in the eyes of the public, he said.

He said Bangladeshi potential growth rate of 8-9 percent has been hampered by the confrontational politics and corruption in the past.

With the average growth rate of around 5.5 percent, poverty fell by about 20 percent between 1990 and 2005. But Bangladesh still has 56 million people living in poverty and there are sharp regional differences in the rate of poverty reduction, he said.

Patel met caretaker government Chief Advisor Dr Fakhruddin Ahmed and some top policy-makers during his visit.

He said power, energy, water and education sectors got the priority in those discussions.

Patel admitted the present upward trend in inflation has been a big concern for the country's economy, particularly the common people saying that increases in the prices of food essentials have been very much on the minds of the public.

But, he said, prices of food items and other commodities have certain connections with the global markets and out of the government's control.

The World Bank bureaucrat said inflation in Bangladesh is relatively lower compared with other countries in South Asia, as in March 2007, the consumer price index inflation in Bangladesh was 7.4 percent while it was 7.6 percent in India, 7.7 percent in Pakistan and 10 percent in Sri Lanka.

He mentioned that World Bank would disburse about 450 million U. S. dollars by the end of the current fiscal to finance its different projects in the country.

Source: Xinhua