Finance
Bangladesh-Sri Lanka Bangladesh gets back $5 cr of loan given to Sri Lanka
Dhaka, August 22: Bangladesh gave a loan of 200 million or 20 crore dollars to Sri Lanka. Bangladesh got back 50 million dollars or 5 crore dollars out of that loan. Sri Lanka returned this money on Monday. Another $50 million is due to be returned on August 30.
Bangladesh Bank Executive Director and Spokesperson Majbaul Haque confirmed the matter.
He said that the time was extended several times in view of Sri Lanka's application. 50 million dollars returned today. We expect the country to return the remaining USD 150 million in due course.
Bangladesh gave a loan of 20 crore dollars in four installments during September-October 2021. This loan was given to the country under currency swap system. The one-year loan expired in September last year. Later, in view of their application, the time was extended to three months several times. Bangladesh is getting 1.5 percent interest by adding the London Interbank Offer Rate (LIBOR) against the loan.
In the first phase, on August 19, 2021, Bangladesh Bank released 50 million dollars or 50 million dollars. In the second phase, 100 million or 10 crore dollars were given on October 30. And in November of the same year, 5 crore dollars were given to the country. Under the one-year loan agreement, the money is to be repaid with interest between August, October and November last year. However, the country failed to repay the loan on time due to its fragile state.
Bangladesh Bank currently has a reserve of 2,938 crore (29.38 billion) dollars. And according to the accounting system of the International Monetary Organization (IMF), the country's actual reserves amount to 2,314 crore dollars or 23.14 billion dollars. With this reserve, up to 4 months of import liabilities (about 6 billion dollars per month) can be met.
