Finance
IMF Progress in Bangladesh's reform programme is visible: IMF
Dhaka, April 15: Bangladesh has undertaken some economic reform programmes and its progress is also considered visible by the International Monetary Fund-IMF.
Krishna Srinivasan, director of the Asia and Pacific region of the autonomous financial institution, said that the economy of Bangladesh, like many other countries, has been affected by the Russia-Ukraine war. Bangladesh approached the IMF at that time to initiate a loan program and the IMF responded.
Srinivasan said these things at a virtual press conference at the spring meeting of the World Bank and the IMF in Washington, the capital of the United States, on Thursday, April 13 at 9 pm Bangladesh time.
He said that the IMF has approved the loan proposal of 4.7 billion US dollars and Bangladesh has undertaken the program under it. Under the programme, reforms were started in several sectors, which are still ongoing. Some progress has already been seen.
At this time he also talked about the currency exchange rate. Srinivasan was asked that there are three types of currency exchange rates in Bangladesh.
In response, the top official of the IMF said that the currency exchange rate is market-based and Bangladesh is trying to do the same. The country has also increased the prices of gas, electricity and fuel oil. Trying to make the currency exchange rate 'market and one' means having a fixed rate of US dollar against rupee. There are currently multiple rates against $1.
The IMF approved a $4.7 billion loan proposal on January 30. Already 47 crore 62 lakh 70 thousand dollars of the first installment has been discounted. The entire amount of the loan will be paid in seven installments in three and a half years until 2026. As such there are six more installments left.
Among the IMF's loans, loans for Enhanced Credit Facility (ECF) and Enhanced Funding Support (EFF) are $3.3 billion and loans for Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF) are $1.4 billion.
