Bangladesh govt to issue $500m bonds to build bridge

[Naveed Yaseen]

DHAKA: The Bangladesh government will issue $500 million worth of bonds for sale to residents and to non-resident Bangladeshis to help pay for the construction of a $1.9 billion bridge, a senior official said on Tuesday.

The bonds would be issued in taka to buyers in Bangladesh and in dollars to non-resident Bangladeshis, the official said.

The World Bank, Asian Development Bank and Jeddah-based Islamic Development Bank are the major financiers for the 6.15 kilometers (3.84 miles) bridge on the River Padma, south of Dhaka.

“As the cost of the bridge rose 46 per cent to $1.9 billion, the deficit will be met by issuing government bonds,” said Musharraf Hussain Bhuiyan, secretary of the finance ministry’s economic relations division.

Nearly 6 million non-resident nationals provide the country’s second-biggest source of foreign exchange income.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=191506