WEB DESK
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Friday approved a USD 250 million loan to Bangladesh to help finance reforms. It is aimed at improving the inclusiveness and responsiveness of the country’s social development and resilience program.
The Strengthening Social Resilience Program will include institutional and policy reforms to address cross-sector issues of social development in Bangladesh. These include improving the coverage and efficiency of the social protection system through improving the administrative efficiency of social protection management. The program will expand its outreach to vulnerable women by increasing the coverage of both the old age allowance for women over 62 and the allowance for widowed, deserted, and destitute women in 150 sub-district units or upazilas.
Other reforms include promoting the use of mobile financial services and simplifying identification and documentation requirements for opening a bank account. It also seeks to broaden the scope of social protection from mere poverty relief to life cycle social and health responses, including social insurance.
ADB will also provide a technical assistance grant to support program implementation, policy analyses, and capacity development for social development-related ministries.