The Bangladesh government has approved $3.3 billion in non-concessional foreign loans to upgrade the rural power distribution network and finance imports of fuel oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG).
The approval was given at a meeting of the Standing Committee on Non-Concessional Loans, chaired by Finance Minister Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury at the Secretariat recently, according to Economic Relations Division (ERD) officials.
Of the total, $200 million will be borrowed from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for the Power Distribution Network Enhancement Project, while $3.1 billion in short-term financing from the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC) was approved retrospectively for fuel imports in fiscal year 2026-27.
The $200 million project, to be implemented by the Bangladesh Rural Electrification Board, aims to improve electricity reliability, reduce technical losses and strengthen climate resilience across 13 rural electricity cooperative areas surrounding Dhaka.
Meanwhile, the $3.1 billion ITFC facility will provide $2.5 billion to the Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) for fuel oil imports and $600 million to Petrobangla for LNG purchases.
The six-month loan will carry an interest rate of six-month Term SOFR plus 1.70%. ITFC will provide $600 million from its own resources, while the remaining $2.5 billion will be financed through co-financing by Bangladesh Bank.
