Out of the $4.7 billion loan package, Bangladesh has already received the first tranche of $476 million from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
“Bangladesh Bank (BB) received IMF’s first installment on Thursday,” BB Executive Director and Spokesman Mezbaul Haque told BSS.
The $4.7 billion loan request from Bangladesh was approved by the IMF during a board meeting on Monday. Six equal payments of $704 million each will make up the remaining sum.
According to a press statement published by the IMF on January 31, Bangladesh would receive approximately $3.3 billion under the Extended Credit Facility (ECF) and the Extended Fund Facility (EFF), as well as approximately $1.4 billion under the Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF).
Bangladesh became the first nation in Asia to be approved for a loan from the Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF), a fund established for low- and middle-income nations that are vulnerable to climate change.
According to a press release from IMF on January 31, the 42-month program will help preserve macroeconomic stability, protect the vulnerable, and foster inclusive and green growth. Reforms will focus on creating fiscal space to enable greater social and developmental spending; strengthening the financial sector; modernizing policy frameworks; and building climate resilience.
IMF claimed that Russia’s war in Ukraine has halted Bangladesh’s strong economic recovery from the pandemic, causing a rapid expansion of Bangladesh’s current account deficit, a depreciation of the Taka, and a decrease in foreign exchange reserves.
“The authorities have taken on a comprehensive set of measures to deal with these latest economic disruptions.
The authorities recognize that in addition to tackling these immediate challenges, long-standing structural issues and vulnerabilities related to climate change will also need to be addressed to accelerate growth, attract private investment, enhance productivity, and build climate resilience,” it added.
