Finance minister Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury has asked the Asian Development Bank for substantially more financial and technical assistance, arguing that surging energy import bills, geopolitical turbulence and accelerating climate threats have combined to strain the economy to a point where support from international stakeholders has become critical.
Addressing the governors’ business session of the ADB’s 59th annual meeting in Samarkand on Monday, Chowdhury said global fuel price spikes and the pressure on the Bangladeshi taka against the dollar had compounded the difficulty.
The cooperation of international partners is urgently needed to secure Bangladesh’s energy supplies and maintain economic stability, he told the gathering, which drew ministers, senior officials and policymakers from 47 countries.
Chowdhury lauded ADB’s timely budget support but argued that “counter-cyclical financing” must continue if global risks escalate further. He urged the ADB to play a central role in building a long-term sustainable energy architecture for Bangladesh, which has set a target of meeting 20 percent of its power from renewable sources by 2030.
On climate, the minister catalogued the country’s exposure: floods, cyclones, river erosion, salinity intrusion and sea-level rise that threaten both livelihoods and infrastructure. He called for a scale-up of low-interest climate finance spanning adaptation and mitigation, including resilient infrastructure, climate-smart agriculture, disaster risk reduction, nature-based solutions and carbon markets. He also invited the ADB to lead the Bangladesh Climate Development Partnership, a country-level platform intended to drive renewable energy expansion, ecosystem restoration and river rehabilitation.
The finance minister pressed the case for heavier private-sector investment, stronger regional connectivity through SASEC, SAARC and Asean frameworks, and sustained ADB engagement in infrastructure, energy, transport, education and institutional development. Job creation, social protection and balanced regional growth, Chowdhury said, remained the government’s top priorities.
Chowdhury also raised the Rohingya crisis issue, noting that Bangladesh continued to shelter large numbers of forcibly displaced Myanmar nationals on humanitarian grounds and that ADB’s additional support was needed for both the displaced population and host communities.
The theme for the Monday session was “Crossroads of Progress: Advancing the Region’s Connected Future”. The annual meeting, which opened on May 3, concludes on Wednesday.
(Reporting from Samarkand, Uzbekistan)