SoE, NCB reform scheme may get World Bank fund
BSS, Dhaka
World Bank (WB) said here yesterday that bank may extend financial support to the government's on going project of privatising state-owned enterprises and reforming nationalised commercial banks (NCBs) which aimed at generating employment scopes by infusing momentum in the economy."The bank could extend financial support to the ongoing privatisation process of state-owned enterprises (SoEs) and reforms of the NCBs as it is aimed at creating new job opportunities, infusing dynamism in the economic activities," a senior private sector development specialist of WB, GM Kurshid Alam told the news agency. He said that the World Bank could fund the privatisation programme at the request of the government. The Bank through this proposed project would be able to support the government's budgetary cost relating to any voluntary retirement from SoEs. The privatisation commission has listed 100 SoEs to privatise in the next two three years. Alam said apart from this funding the bank may allocate more funds if required for counseling, training and retraining of the employees who would opt for the Voluntary Earlier Retirement Scheme (VRS) so that they could "maximize their benefits from funds they would receive under the VRS". The source said the project would stand to finance the government initiatives to implement its plans of refurbishing of assets of bigger SoEs for converting them into more viable projects. Proposed project will have funds to help refurbish and covert assets of closed enterprises into more productive assets like turning the now closed Adamjee Jute Mills compound into an industrial park.
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