IMF team to begin discussions Sunday on $4.7b loan tranches

The delegation from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will start discussions on Sunday to review updated financial data before releasing the next tranches of the $4.7 billion loan.

According to the Finance Division of the Ministry of Finance, the IMF team will visit Dhaka to assess the conditions for releasing the fourth and fifth tranches.

The delegation will meet various government departments over the course of two weeks, starting from Sunday.

The team is scheduled to arrive in Dhaka on Saturday evening.

During their visit, IMF team members will engage with the Finance Division, National Board of Revenue (NBR), Power Division, Power Development Board, Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC), and the Energy and Mineral Resources Division.

The IMF team will hold a press briefing on 17 April.

On both the first and last days of their visit -- 6 April and 17 April -- the IMF delegation will meet Finance Advisor Dr Salehuddin Ahmed.

Bangladesh has already received three tranches since the loan program began on 30 January 2023.

The country received $476.3 million in the first tranche on 2 February 2023, $681 million in the second tranche in December 2023, and $1.15 billion in the third tranche in June 2024.

In total, Bangladesh has received about $2.31 billion from these three tranches, leaving the fourth and fifth tranches, totalling $2.39 billion, still pending.

Meanwhile, in a pre-budget discussion with the Economic Reporters’ Forum (ERF), Finance Advisor Dr Salehuddin Ahmed emphasised the importance of the IMF loan for budgetary support.

He said the government and the IMF have agreed to release the two installments for the fiscal year 2024-25 together.

But sources indicate that there are three key obstacles preventing Bangladesh from receiving both installments of the IMF loan simultaneously: making the currency exchange rate a market-based one, raising additional revenue equal to 0.5% of GDP, and separating the revenue administration from the NBR's revenue policy.