The International Finance Corporation (IFC) is providing a $32.5 million loan to Agrocorp International Pte Ltd, a Singapore-based company that supplies wheat and pulses in Bangladesh, in order to improve food security in the South Asian country.

The World Bank Group's arm is giving an eight-year financing package consisting of a senior secured loan of up to $18 million as well as a concessional loan of $14.5 million from the International Development Association's Private Sector Window Blended Finance Facility, it said in a press release today.

The investment will allow Agrocorp to buy wheat and pulses from Australia and Canada and deliver them to Bangladesh, providing safe, nutritious, and calorie-rich staples to the country at a time of heightened food insecurity.

These staples are sold to millers and food processors, which depend on them to produce basic foods for the Bangladeshi population.

Vijay Iyengar, chairman and managing director of Agrocorp International, said, "We are delighted to be partnering with the IFC for this loan, which will allow us to scale up our work to provide an even stronger platform to secure food supplies for emerging markets such as Bangladesh."

"We are pleased that the IFC is able to provide financial support for Agrocorp to reinforce its position in global food supply chains, and in this instance to serve the markets in Bangladesh during these challenging times," said Geoffrey Yeo, assistant chief executive officer of Enterprise Singapore.

Hector Gomez Ang, regional director for South Asia at the IFC, said the investment ensures the supply of essential raw materials to food producers and processors in Bangladesh, allowing the availability of safe, nutritious, and calorie-rich staple foods to be available.

"IFC's funding to Singapore's Agrocorp comes at a critical time, as pandemic-related disruptions and geopolitical tensions impact global food supply chains."

Since 2010, the IFC has invested more than $3.6 billion in Bangladesh to help the private sector.