Financing for WASH in Bangladesh: Macro to micro perspective

Published on: 30/07/2024

Bangladesh released its National WASH Accounts 2020 recently with WASH sector expenditure being 2.18% of the country's GDP. Low-income households dedicated a significant portion of their income to WASH. This workshop provokes thinking: what and who can supplement public finance to mitigate the financing gap in a pro-poor fashion?

Workshop details

Date: Sunday 25 August
Time: 09:00 - 10:30
Location: Room 26, Level 2 - Stockholm World Water Week

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Session Description

The Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), with technical support from WaterAid Bangladesh, released the National WASH Accounts 2020 report in November 2023. The report revealed that in 2020, WASH sector expenditure was BDT 598 billion (aprx. USD 6 billion) which is 2.18% of the country's total gross domestic product (GDP). Around BDT 172 billion (aprx. USD 2 billion) which is 28% of the total WASH spending was on capital investment for building new water supply, sanitation of hygiene services, including hardware and software costs such as the procurement of pipes or paying for detailed design or associated training. Households spent an average of BDT 11,574 annually on WASH. This represented 4.3% of citizens' average annual household income.

While it is proof of households having willingness to pay for WASH, we can anticipate the expenditure may be higher than 4.3% for poor and hard-core poor households. It provokes thinking:

1. What are the sources of financing for WASH for people living in poverty in the exacerbating backdrop of climate change?
2. How is microfinance playing a real role here?
3. Are we missing out on other financing options?

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Convenors

BRAC
IRC
WaterAid