EU bank gives first loan to Bangladesh

The European Investment Bank on Wednesday announced that it has agreed to provide 82 million Euro to the Government of Bangladesh to support more efficient power generation in the country and reductions in emissions. The project will have important climate change benefits in a country that is especially vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, said the EIB in a statement. The project is part of a wider investment programme in the energy sector in Bangladesh with an estimated total cost of USD 1.6 billion, whose objective is to facilitate the expansion of power generation, transmission and distribution as well as capacity-building in the country. It will be co-financed by other international financial institutions such as the Asian Development Bank , the Islamic Development Bank and the French Development Agency as well as the Government of Bangladesh. The Luxembourg-based European Investment Bank is the long-term lending institution of the European Union owned by its Member States