IMF weighs fresh funding to 'different' Bangladesh

Fresh lending or an additional funding under the current loan programme of the IMF may be forthcoming for Bangladesh, its head indicated during discussion with Prof Muhammad Yunus in New York.

International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said the IMF board could initiate a new lending programme for Bangladesh based on the report of a team now negotiating with the government over an ongoing lending package.

"Or we can also extend more lending under the existing support programme launched early last year," the Fund MD said during her meeting with the Chief Adviser of the interim government of Bangladesh on the sidelines of the annual UN General Assembly at the UN headquarters -- one of the CA's summit engagements in the US city.

Kristalina Georgieva held out support to Bangladesh's reform initiatives under the post-uprising regime, saying that the Washington-based lender has sent a team to Dhaka for talks with the stakeholders over the matter, said a spokesperson for the CA on Wednesday.

"It is a different country. It is Bangladesh 2.0," Kristalina Georgieva told the head of interim government as the latter gave a briefing on the student-led mass uprising that toppled the previous "autocratic regime".

Professor Yunus spoke about the six commissions that the interim government has set up to recommend vital reforms in election, civil administration, police, judiciary, anti-corruption and the constitution of the country.

He said the government would hold discussions with the political parties on the recommendations of the commissions.

Once a consensus on the reforms is reached and the voter list prepared, the date for the vote will be announced, he said about a tentative timeline for the next polls.

The IMF chief executive extended her support to the initiatives. She said the lender would fast-track financial support for the government.

She said she had sent an IMF team "quickly" to Bangladesh and it was now in Dhaka at the moment. The team would place its report to the IMF management board next month.

Energy, power and transport adviser Fouzul Kabir Khan and Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya attended the meeting.

Adviser Fouzul Kabir Khan told the IMF chief that the interim government took just a week to "dismantle the architecture of crimes" in the power and energy sector.

Economist Dr Debapriya stressed the need for IMF support to bolster the country's balance of payments. He said the role of the IMF would be critical to stabilising exchange rates.

Meanwhile, Dr Yunus spent a hectic time Tuesday-Wednesday in the UN headquarters meeting a string of world leaders and attending several programmes where the Nobel laureate turned cynosure with tales of a "new version of Bangladesh".

Chief Adviser Prof Yunus shared the stage with former US President Bill Clinton at the Clinton Global Initiative 2024 meeting in New York after his meeting with US president Joe Biden.

He also attended a High Level Side Event on Rohingya Crisis at the UN headquarters the same day.

Then he had a meeting with Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

In the evening, Dr Yunus hosted a reception on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of Bangladesh's membership in the United Nations at the UN headquarters.

mirmostafuz@yahoo.com