A Correspondent:
The delegation of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has asked for the database of how much foreign debt Bangladesh owes. Besides, the delegation visiting Bangladesh also wanted to know what method is used in the database, according to the Economic Relation Division (ERD) of the Finance Ministry.
The delegation of multilateral lenders held a meeting with the ERD Secretary Sharifa Khan at the latter’s office on Thursday.
Following the meeting, the ERD Secretary said, “IMF delegation wanted to know about the database related to the foreign loans. We informed them that our loan repayment is up-to-date. We mainly discussed this issue in the meeting.”
The delegation did not discuss the issue any further, she added.
She further said, “They also wanted to know about the method used in making the loan database and we informed them Bangladesh follows the UNCTAD system.”
Wishing anonymity, an official of the ERD said that the delegation wanted to know whether Bangladesh has opened an adjustment account for Russia.
It also asked about the revised development budget in the meeting, the ERD official said.
He also said that a high-profiled delegation of the IMF would visit Bangladesh in October and then the policy related decision will be taken.
Getting the proposed $4.7 billion loan from the IMF, Bangladesh will have to meet 38 conditions, mostly related to the financial sectors of the country. The lending firm has already disbursed the first instalment of the loan.
Now, it is verifying the implementation situation of the achievements till last March and those to be implemented between June and September.
Besides, what initiatives are there in the upcoming budget to implement the conditions that the government has promised to implement by June 2024, will also be reviewed.
Sources said that Bangladesh has to fulfil 38 conditions, big and small, to take an IMF loan. Most of the terms are related to the financial sector. Within the financial sector, there is a large part of the banking sector. A significant part of which is under the responsibility of the Bangladesh Bank.
The IMF approved a US$4.7 billion loan proposal for Bangladesh on January 30. Out of this, $3.3 billion has been approved under the Extended Credit Facility (ECF) and Extended Fund Facility (EAF) and another $1.4 billion under the newly formed Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF).
