Rohingya crisis: WB ready to assist govt

If the government wants, the World Bank will support Bangladesh in addressing the Rohingya refugee crisis, a top official of the global lender said today.

"World Bank is very concerned about the plight of people who fled their home country because of conflict and violence. They urgently require humanitarian responses from the global community," said Qimiao Fan, WB country director for Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal.

"We, the World Bank have been monitoring the situation very closely together with our UN colleagues and other development partners," Fan added.

He came up with the promise while addressing a press briefing at its Dhaka office this morning regarding the latest updates on the Bangladesh economy and jobs creation status.

In addition to immediate humanitarian assistance, the government will need some long-term support to help the refugees and manage the influx impact, Fan said.

WB sees resilient economic growth

Bangladesh's economic growth remains resilient in spite of volatile export growth and shrinking remittances, according to a new World Bank report unveiled at the press briefing today.

It highlighted that Bangladesh economy continued to have robust growth and macroeconomic stability. However, infrastructure gap, predominance of informality in labour markets and slow structural reforms reduced the pace of job creation.

"By focusing on micro-financial stability, structural reforms, urban planning and technological advances, Bangladesh can create more, better and inclusive jobs and boost its growth potential," it added.

Like its previous forecast, the report said that GDP growth is expected at 6.4 percent in FY2018, driven by industry and services and above many developing countries in East and South Asia.