The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has approved the third tranche, amounting to $1.12 billion of its $4.7 billion loan for Bangladesh, reports UNB.
The approval came at an IMF executive board meeting in Washington at 9:30 pm (Bangladesh time) on Monday.
Md Mezbaul Haque, the executive director and spokesperson for Bangladesh Bank, said that the loans are expected to be released within the next two days, enhancing the country’s reserves to some extent.
The IMF approved the first tranche of the loan package on January 30, 2023. Bangladesh received $447.8 million on February 2, 2023. The entire amount of the IMF loan will be released to Bangladesh in seven instalments over three and a half years till 2026.
Economist and former governor of Bangladesh Bank (BB) Dr Atiur Rahman told the media that the approval of the 3rd tranche at IMF’s board indicates strong confidence in Bangladesh's macroeconomic management and willingness to undertake necessary reforms for inclusive and sustainable growth.
Dr Atiur said the state of the art technical knowledge of IMF experts Bangladesh will certainly benefit from this program in undertaking necessary reforms in the financial sector for raising revenue and foreign exchange reserve, improving governance of the banking sector to reduce non-performing assets and targeting better the social protection for the extreme poor.
Bd-pratidin English/Tanvir Raihan
