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Bangladesh received US$600 million foreign aid from its donor community in the first half of the current fiscal, with the major chunk coming from a top multilateral lending agency.
Of the total aid flow, the World Bank (WB) provided more than $400 million under the two large projects in the fiscal 2005-06, alone.
Official figures say the global development lender disbursed $213 million under a multi-billion dollar project titled health, nutrition and population sector programme (HNPSP).
The country also received another hefty amount of $200 million as the third tranche of the Development Support Credit (DSC) in December last.
Officials of the Economic Relations Division (ERD) hoped that if the present trend continues, the level of overseas aid would hit a new high by the end of the current fiscal year.
"Even though the level of foreign aid is declining in the recent years for various reasons, the current trend is encouraging. The total inflow of overseas aid is set to cross that of the last fiscal," an ERD official said.
The official, however, attributed poor utilisation capacity of the government agencies concerned to the plummeting flow of aid.
But aid analysts suggest that the government should receive only quality aid and eschew the assistance having "harsh conditionalities".
The country would never come out of its desperate poverty trap if it continues to receive aid indiscriminately, they add.
The ERD figured out the country received foreign assistance worth nearly $1.5 billion in the last fiscal (2004-05).
Officials said the United Kingdom (UK) has overtaken Japan as the country's largest bilateral donor, with handing out around 125 million pounds last year.
The DFID released assistance amounting to Tk 4.13 billion under the Rural Electrification Development Programme.
Official sources said Britain's aid would go up in near future as its commitment for the HNPSP was Tk 1.2 billion.
The UK's Department for International Development (DFID) is expected to sign an agreement this month in this regard, they added.
Besides, a total of 40 projects under the annual development programme (ADP) are now under pipeline.
Of these projects, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) is likely to disburse Tk 1.50 billion for the Power Transmission and Development Project shortly.
The Manila-based lender is also expected to provide another Tk 3.76 billion for the two projects. The Agri-business Development Project and the South-East Region Integrated Water Resources Planning and Management would get Tk 2.46 billion and Tk 1.30 billion respectively.
The Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) would release 13.44 million Canadian dollars shortly under a project intended to mitigate the arsenic problem.
The CIDA will also provide 45 million Canadian dollars for the Bangladesh Health Commodity Project.
Among the bilateral donors, Germany has committed to put around 17 million euros under the Energy Efficiency and Power Transmission Programme.
In addition, a number of UN agencies are likely to extend their financial support for implementing various programmes.
Under its Country Programme Action Plan, the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) would give out Tk 1.7 billion and Tk 71 million for implementing two projects.
The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) is expected to release Tk 26 million under its country assistance plan.
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