Dhaka Bureau: International Monetary Fund-IMF is lending to Bangladesh as expected. Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal said that 447 million dollars of the first installment of this loan will be available next February.
He said this in a press conference at the Secretariat on Wednesday (October 9) at noon. At this time Finance Secretary Fatima Yasmin, Bangladesh Bank Governor Abdur Rauf Talukder were present.
The finance minister said, “IMF is giving us the loan as we wanted. The loan formalities will be completed within the next three months. The first installment of the loan will be available next February. Its amount is 447 million (44 crore 70 lakh) US dollars. This loan will be available in total 7 installments. In each of the next six installments, the loan will amount to 666 million (66 crore 60 lakh) dollars. The entire loan will be available by 2026.’
With the ongoing economic crisis, Bangladesh has asked the IMF for a loan of 4.5 billion dollars to increase the supply of reserves and dollars. The IMF delegation is visiting Bangladesh from October 26 to discuss this issue.
Last July, the finance ministry sent an official letter to the IMF asking for a loan. The IMF mission in Dhaka is headed by Rahul Anand, head of the agency’s Asia and Pacific division.
