DHAKA: The Australian government will provide $A92 million (7.1 billion taka) in official development assistance to Bangladesh for the fiscal year to end June 2012, an increase of $A22 million from the previous year, a statement said on Sunday.
The decision was made as part of the Australian government's announcement of its 2011-12 national budget which was released in Canberra last week.
The Australian High Commissioner in Dhaka Justin Lee said the increase in aid funding emphasised Australia's long-term commitment to cooperate with Bangladesh to reduce poverty and achieve sustainable development.
"Australia has now almost trebled its development assistance to Bangladesh since 2006-07," he said.
Managed by the Australian Agency for International Development, Australia's aid program in Bangladesh will retain a focus on improving healthcare and primary education and expand Australia's support for reducing extreme poverty and strengthening resilience to natural disasters and climate change.
Abject poverty now grips around 38 percent of the country's more than 150 million population, who live on less than $1 a day. The U.N. wants poverty halved by the end of 2015.
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.