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Countries and Regions Country Partnership Strategies Document
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Country Strategy and Program Update 2003-2005: Bangladesh
IV. Country Performance and Assistance LevelsA. Lending Level Proposed31. The performance-based allocation (PBA) system is used to allocate scarce Asian Development Fund (ADF) resources to eligible developing member countries. The system assesses country performance by using a set of common criteria to determine an initial allocation (the base case). The resulting base allocation of ADF for Bangladesh is $267 million per annum for the period 2003-2005. The base case allocation is subject to change, depending on the outcome of the PBA exercises in each of 3 years. 32. The assessment of the country's performance against the country-specific performance triggers will determine whether it is placed on a high, base or low case scenario. The country-specific triggers for each lending scenario are given in Table A1.12. The base case scenario requires the Government to take measures to improve macroeconomic management, achieve reasonable progress in structural and sector-specific reforms, and maintain satisfactory portfolio performance. 33. The lending program for 2003-2005 concentrates on fewer numbers of sectors identified on the basis of several factors, including consistency with ADB's strategic objectives and priorities, comparative strength in terms of its long involvement in the sectors/subsectors, economic/sector work, the Government's sustained commitment to reform, sectoral performance, and complementarity with other development partners. The program accommodates several thematic priorities in terms of loans/TAs, including promotion of the private sector, good governance, gender and development, and regional cooperation. Several sector development programs have been proposed during 2003-2005, which will provide sustained support to much-needed reforms in various sectors. In developing the assistance program, the outcomes of the Bangladesh Development Forum of March 2002-which stressed, among others, the importance of good governance, private sector-led economic growth, and human development-were also taken into account. Accordingly, the firm lending program for Bangladesh during 2003-2005 (Table A1.10) consists of 18 projects totaling $1,175 million (ADF $850 million and OCR $325 million), with some amount of overprogramming. As indicated in the loan concept papers (Appendix 2), 11 of the 18 projects (nearly 61%) are classified as CPI/PI. The annual average lending amounts to $391 million. B. Nonlending Program34. A total of 31 TA projects for $18.1 million have been prepared for the period 2003-2005 (Table A1.11), 20 of which are PPTAs. Each of the PPTAs in the program has been carefully designed to facilitate timely preparation of ensuing projects. In most cases, a lead-time of two years has been planned to allow good quality of project preparation. A number of ADTAs have also been proposed in the TA pipeline to help strengthen institutional capacity of various agencies and address crosscutting issues. Seven economic, thematic, and sector works have been proposed, mainly to assist in the forthcoming preparation of the CSP and monitoring of its implementation. C. Summary of Changes to Lending and Nonlending Program35. The new pipeline of loans reflects some changes compared with the Country Strategy and Program Update 2002-2004 for the overlapping years 2003-2004. The Second Participatory Livestock Development Project, classified as CPI, has now been advanced from 2004 to 2003 in view of the good performance of the first phase as well as its direct contributory impact on poverty reduction. The Rural Electrification Project proposed for 2003 has been replaced by the Power Sector Development Program, given new resources being made available for rural electrification from other sources. In line with ADB's Social Protection Strategy, the ADTA for supporting the Department of Women's Affairs has been converted into a PPTA and expanded to include assistance to disadvantaged women (including unemployed female garment workers and children). The PPTA for Padma Bridge has been deferred to 2004 to synchronize with the feasibility study to be prepared by JICA.
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