DHAKA: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) said on Tuesday that it is to lend Bangladesh 170 million dollars to help cope with a rapid rise in food prices triggered in part by natural disasters. The loan, part of a package with other multilateral aid donors, "will ensure access to food supply for those hardest hit by recent natural disasters in Bangladesh and the rapid increase in food prices," the ADB said in a statement. Bangladesh was severely affected by two floods and a devastating cyclone in the second half of 2007. They caused a sharp shortfall in rice production that adversely affected "the food security of an estimated 25 million people," the ADB said. This was worsened by the rapid rise in food prices that mainly affected the poor and fixed income earners. ...
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