World Bank approves $1.1b emergency finance for Bangladesh

The World Bank has approved $1.1 billion across two projects to help Bangladesh counter fertiliser and fuel price volatility, safeguard food security, and enable rapid crisis response.

The funding includes $300 million as emergency support for food security, according to a statement issued yesterday.

The remaining $713 million will be given as a contingent emergency response to support quick-disbursing emergency expenditures, including cash transfers and livelihood assistance for affected households and micro, small, and medium enterprises, helping to stabilise incomes and preserve jobs during crises.

It will also finance fuel and energy supplies to continue essential services, including food, medicines and medical equipment, energy, and water. The funds under this scheme are set to be disbursed by June 30, 2026.

World Bank Division Director for Bangladesh and Bhutan Jean Pesme said rising food, fertiliser, and fuel costs -- compounded by tighter fiscal space -- had hit smallholder farmers and vulnerable households hardest.

"The World Bank has stepped up with immediate support to help Bangladesh mitigate this impact to ensure fertiliser supply for rice production, protect households, jobs and livelihoods, and continue essential services," he said.

The $300 million project will finance imports of 600,000 tonnes of critical fertilisers -- including half a million tonnes of urea -- covering 14 lakh hectares of rice cultivation during the Aman (July-October 2026) and Boro (October 2026-April 2027) seasons. Bangladesh imports more than 85 percent of its fertiliser requirements.

World Bank Lead Economist and Task Team Leader Souleymane Coulibaly said the Aman and Boro seasons together account for about 90 percent of total annual rice output.

"Any disruption in fertiliser supply would not only threaten food security, but it would also deepen poverty and cost jobs," he said.

World Bank Lead Disaster Risk Management Specialist and Task Team Leader Lesley Jeanne Yu Cordero said the project would repurpose unutilised financing from existing projects to direct resources where they are most needed.