DHAKA: The World Bank said it was giving Bangladesh a $120 million loan to support the country's Private Sector Development Support Project.
The project, in partnership with Britain's department for international development, will help set up economic zones for Bangladesh's emerging manufacturing and services sectors.
The governments' new economic zone policy builds on export-processing zones which began in the 1980s and now employ nearly 300,000 people.
The World Bank group has supported the export-processing zone authority, and economic zones have contributed to rapid growth of exports, worth $2.9 billion in the fiscal year to June 2010. Extending the economic zones will accelerate growth and help Bangladesh reduce poverty.
"The project will address the lack of serviced land and quality infrastructure that hampers private sector development in Bangladesh," said Ellen Goldstein, the country director of the World Bank in Bangladesh.
"It will also serve as a platform for a stronger integration between exporters and domestic suppliers."
The credit from the International Development Association, the World Bank's confessional arm, has 40 years to maturity, including a 10-year grace period; and carries a service charge of 0.75 percent.
Copyright Reuters, 2011
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