The WB official also expressed her concern over 'confrontational politics' and stressed the need for collaborative efforts of both the government and the main opposition for poverty reduction and rural development.

Emerging from about two-hour meeting at the Dhanmondi house of Hasina, Wallich told reporters that she discussed various issues and the recently held Bangladesh Develop-ment Forum (BDF) meeting in Dhaka with the Awami League president.

The WB country director said development partners at the BDF meeting appreciated economic performance of the government, but expressed their concern over a number of non-economic factors like crime and violence, corruption, lack of governance and the rule of law which are hindering overall economic progress.

"Apart from macroeconomic stability, there is an urgent need to bring down crime and violence and establish the rule of law," she said.

Wallich also placed stress on strong commitment of both government and the main opposition in proper implementation of the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP).

Briefing newsmen later, Saber Hossain Chowdhury, political secretary of the leader of the opposition, said non-economic factors including good governance and the rule of law, currently absent in Bangladesh, were very important for economic development.

He said the AL told the WB official that the present government was not giving much importance to rural development, especially to agriculture.

"For this, the growth figure may be misleading when large number of rural people are not beneficiaries of the growth."

"The farmers are not getting proper agri-inputs in times of necessity and they are not also getting proper prices of their products. These issues were raised at the meeting," Saber said.