Bangladesh, World Bank sign deal for cash transfer

Dhaka: The Bangladesh government and the World Bank on Sunday signed an agreement to improve the transparency and efficiency of its major cash transfer programmes.

Mahmuda Begum, an Additional Secretary of Bangladesh's Economic Relations Division, and Qimiao Fan, World Bank country Director for Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal, signed the agreement worth $300 million here, reports Xinhua news agency.

In a statement, the Washington-based lender said the "Cash Transfer Modernization Project will help the Department of Social Services (DSS) modernise the country's four major social protection programmes using cash transfers by improving beneficiary targeting, programme administration and benefit payments".

In fiscal 2018, Bangladesh spent $5.8 billion on social protection or about 2 per cent of its GDP and improving the efficiency of these programmes will help the country to use public resources more effectively.