Dhaka: Bangladesh government on Tuesday signed a $55 million loan agreement with the World Bank to monitor the country's annual development programs and improve the performance of public procurement using digital technology.

The Digitizing Implementation Monitoring and Public Procurement Project (DIMAPPP) will help Bangladesh expand electronic government procurement (e-GP) to all public sector organizations as well as improve capacity to monitor implementation of development projects and programs using digital technology.

The agreement was signed by Economic Relations Division (ERD) Secretary Kazi Shofiqul Azam and World Bank Country Director Qimiao Fan on behalf of the government of Bangladesh and the World Bank, respectively, at the ERD in Dhaka.

After signing the agreement, ERD Secretary Kazi Shofiqul Azad said, "DIMAPP will institutionalize electronic procurement and digitize the monitoring of development projects and programs to expedite project implementation and enhance transparency of spending of public resources."

Qimiao Fan, World Bank Country Director for Bangladesh, Bhutan, and Nepal, said, "The Government of Bangladesh has made notable progress in improving public procurement performance, which is key to increase efficiency of public spending,"

"This project is a testament to the government's commitment to expand digitization to all public procuring entities as well as to monitor development programs and projects," added the World Bank official.

In Bangladesh, annual expenditure on public procurement amounts to over $7 billion in recent years, representing 70 percent of the annual development program.

Since 2002, the World Bank has been helping Bangladesh improve its public procurement system, and in 2011, the World Bank supported the rollout of e-GP in four key procuring entities.

Building on the success of predecessor projects, DIMAPP will support the Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division under the Ministry of Planning to effectively monitor execution of annual development programs by digitally connecting all public sector organizations, combined with a nationwide expansion of the e-GP system.

The credits are from the International Development Association (IDA), the World Bank's concessional lending arm. The credits are interest-free and repayable in 38 years, including a 6-year grace period, and carry a service charge of 0.75 percent.