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Reuters - Wednesday, February 3

DHAKA, Feb 2 - Bangladesh will receive $100 million loan from the World Bank to expand its clean energy activities, a senior government official said on Tuesday.

More than three quarters of the loan will be spent on the government's solar energy programme and the rest will be used to buy compact fluorescent lamp bulbs known as CFL bulbs.

The government plans to finance installation of 1.0 million solar panels over the next couple of years and will distribute about 27.5 million low-wattage CFL bulbs across the country.

"It is a massive programme for the government and will not be possible to implement without financial support from our development partners like the World Bank," said the official at the economic relations division of the finance ministry.

The state-run Rural Electrification Board and Infrastructure Development Company Limited are jointly implementing the government's renewable energy development programme.

The World Bank will provide the fund by the end of May, the official said, adding use of solar energy in Bangladesh had been rising annually by more than 50 percent since 2004.