IMF to review macroeconomic situation, banks\' performance

Siddique Islam | Published: November 08, 2016 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) will soon review Bangladesh's overall macroeconomic situation along with banking-sector performances.
An IMF staff mission is scheduled to arrive in the capital next week for the appraisal, sources said.
"The mission is expected to exchange views on different economic issues, along with the country's banking sector, during the weeklong visit," a senior official familiar with the upcoming IMF mission told the FE Monday.
He also said the mission will also discuss capacity development through the South Asia Regional Training and Technical Assistance Centre (SARTTAC).
SARTTAC is a focal point for planning, coordinating, and implementing IMF's capacity-development activities in the region on a wide range of areas, including macroeconomic and fiscal management, monetary operations, financial-sector regulation and supervision, and macroeconomic statistics.
Earlier on March 12 last, Ms. Christine Lagarde, Managing Director of the IMF, and Indian Finance Minister Arun Jaitley agreed to establish a capacity-development centre in New Delhi.
The Centre helps address existing training needs and respond to the demand for IMF training in India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, the Maldives, Nepal, and Sri Lanka, while bringing the region's training volume on par with those of other regions.
Sukhwinder Singh, Director of the SARTTAC, will also join the upcoming IMF staff mission to Bangladesh, according to the official.
The team will also discuss medium-term reform plans to strengthen the state-owned commercial banks (SoCBs), contingency planning and lender of last-resort policy and financial inclusion at a meeting with Bangladesh Bank senior officials on November 14.
Led by Brian J. Aitken, Division Chief in the Asian and Pacific Department of the Washington-based Fund, the delegation is expected to meet Finance Minister AMA Muhith, Bangladesh Bank (BB) governor Fazle Kabir and senior officials of both the finance ministry and the central bank during the visit on November 13-17.
As planned, they will take a firsthand view of banking-sector performance and 'soundness indicators' that show the stake of operations of banks.Â Â Â Â
Earlier, an IMF mission, led by Rodrigo Cubero, visited Dhaka during November 4-17 last year holding discussions on the 2015 Article IV Consultation with Bangladesh.
The IMF Article IV Consultation Mission assesses the overall economic performances of its 189 member-countries across the world every two years.
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