Bangladesh hopes to get after IMF assessment in April
Bangladesh is set to receive the sixth instalment of the ongoing $5.5 billion IMF loan after an assessment mission visits in April to evaluate macroeconomic performance, financial sector reforms, and progress against agreed benchmarks.
Chris Papageorgiou, the head of the IMF mission in Bangladesh, confirmed the development after a meeting with Bangladesh Bank Governor Mostaqur Rahman at the central bank headquarters on Wednesday.
The IMF’s spring meetings will be held in April, followed by a team’s visit to Bangladesh, he said.
The remaining amount will be discussed during the visit, with June as likely for its release.
Bangladesh Bank is preparing for the IMF team’s visit, slated to visit in the second week of April.
Earlier on Tuesday, Finance Minister Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury said that the programme is expected to be reviewed further in the coming months, as the government moves forward with a series of economic reforms aimed at stabilising the financial sector and restoring growth.
IMF in a meeting with the central bank chief demanded a detailed roadmap from the BNP government, seeking clarity on how it plans to implement and sustain the financial sector reforms initiated by the interim government.
As a follow-up, the IMF mission chief visited the Bangladesh Bank headquarters on Wednesday to discuss the preparation and timing of different stages of implementation of the proposed roadmap.
Papageorgiou expressed satisfaction with the current status of Bangladesh’s financial sector reforms, but emphasised the need to make the process more structured and time-bound.
The central bank’s Financial Stability Department, which is tasked with the reforms, briefed the IMF team about the reform measures taken and the stages of implementation.
“The IMF expressed satisfaction with the country’s reserve growth, foreign exchange rate and progress in overall financial sector reforms,” said Mohammad Shahriar Siddiqui, director of the department.
“They’ve called for a written time-bound roadmap, which Bangladesh Bank has already started working on.
The organisation is also looking positively at the progress in increasing reserves, achieving market-based exchange rates and fulfilling different benchmarks,” Shahriar said.
Bangladesh secured a $4.7 billion IMF loan programme in 2023, later expanded to $5.5 billion, with multiple tranches disbursed since then.
The programme formally began on Jan 30, 2023.
Bangladesh received the first tranche of $476.3 million on February 02, 2023, followed by the second one of $682 million in December.
The third tranche of $1.15 billion was released in June 2024, while the fourth and fifth ones, totalling $1.337 billion, were disbursed together in June last year.
The IMF mission’s visit comes at a time when Bangladesh is navigating significant macroeconomic hurdles.
While the government has managed to keep essential commodity prices relatively stable during Ramadan, the ongoing war in the Middle East and global supply chain disruptions continue to pose inflationary risks.
After several rounds of negotiations since 2022, Bangladesh signed a $4.7 billion loan agreement with the IMF in early 2023 to address financial crisis.
The loan size was increased to $5.5 billion during the last disbursement in June last year. Bangladesh has so far received $3.64 billion across five tranches.
