DHAKA, Sept 1 (Reuters) - Bangladesh will get $2 billion in soft loans from the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) to fight poverty in the South Asian nation of 140 million, a senior government official said on Saturday.

Mohammad Aminul Islam Bhuiyan, secretary of the Economic Relations Division of the finance ministry told Reuters the Saudi-based development lender made the commitment during its president's three-day visit to Bangladesh.

"As Bangladesh targets to reduce poverty by 50 percent by 2015, assistance from the development partners are necessary," Bhuiyan said.

The assistance will come from IDB's Islamic Solidarity Fund for Development (ISFD), launched earlier this year with an initial endowment of $1.4 billion and a target value of $10 billion, he said.

About half of Bangladesh's population is considered to be living below the poverty line and reducing poverty remains the focus of various assistance programmes.

The IDB will also to fund Bangladesh's rehabilitation programmes after severe floods that killed 769 people and left about six million homeless, Bhuiyan said.

He said an IDB mission will soon visit Bangladesh to determine how and how much it will contribute, but Dhaka will seek about $1.5 billion in aid.

A preliminary finance ministry report estimated the damage to crops and infrastructure at up to $1 billion.

The World Bank has said the floods were likely to dent economic growth, while possibly pushing up inflation and the budget deficit. ($1 = 68.70 taka)

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