Bangladesh is set to seek confirmation of the committed budget-support credits from the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) at the duo's annual meet beginning tomorrow (Monday), as its forex-crunch mitigation is exigent.
The Bangladesh delegation to the meeting, headed by Finance Adviser Dr Salehuddin Ahmed, would request the WB for confirming its assured US$1.5 billion worth of budgetary support and IMF's $3.0 billion additional support, finance officials said Saturday.
The conference of the twin institutions in the Bretton-Woods system will be held in Washington, DC on October 21-26. The ministerial meet will start on October 22.
Bangladesh Bank Governor Dr Ahsan H Mansur, Economic Relations Division (ERD) Secretary Shahriar Kader Siddiki, Finance Division Secretary Khairuzzaman Mozumder and ERD Additional Secretary Farid Aziz, among others, are also taking part in the meeting.
"We will sit with some senior executives of the WB and the IMF for securing the confirmation of the budgetary supports for Bangladesh. As Bangladesh has already rolled out different reforms, their supports are essential," says an Additional Secretary at the ERD.
"Although both the global development financiers have already assured Bangladesh of providing extended support during their last meetings between the new interim government and WB and IMF high officials in Bangladesh, we will just seek confirmation of the loans in the annual meeting in Washington," he adds.
The possible confirmation will expedite release of the funds meant to be utilised in different reform programmes, including financial, energy and other sectors in Bangladesh.
"In addition to our participation in regular meeting in Washington, our Finance Adviser will also meet Managing Director (Operation), Vice President (South Asia) and some other high-ups of the WB in Washington, DC," says the ERD official.
The delegation will also meet senior executives of the WB Group's MIGA, IFC and the US Treasury Department during the WB-IMF annual meeting in Washington.
Besides, BB Governor Dr Mansur will meet IMF senior executives for securing the $3.0 billion loan for bankrolling the reform programmes, launched by the post-uprising government as part its recipe of 'state rebuilding' mandated by the students who spearheaded the movement leading to the August-5th mass uprising.
Earlier, the IMF confirmed Bangladesh $4.7 billion in a package of financial support, approved in January last year, for Bangladesh's economic-recovery programme.
A MoF official says the IMF might disburse the fresh funds in multiple tranches as well. However, the modality of the loans will be finalised during talks in Washington, DC, this month.
They are hopeful about getting more than $1.0 billion under the two IMF programmes this year, subject to the IMF board's approval in December.
An IMF team is likely to visit Dhaka in November to set the reform conditions for the fresh funds and also review the existing loan programme, the MoF official adds.
He expects the World Bank to provide $1.50 billion in fresh financing in the current fiscal year (FY) 2024-25.
The WB will provide $750 million to strengthen economic governance and reforms and another $250 million for capacity building of the finance ministry, Bangladesh Bank, the National Board of Revenue (NBR), and Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS).
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