Forex reserves, revenues down IMF lending tags

Foreign-exchange reserves and tax revenues remain down the bottom line drawn by the IMF in lending to Bangladesh as authorities falter on two of its eight credit conditions.
Bangladesh Bank (BB) Wednesday explained to a visiting delegation of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) the factors for the failure particularly to meet the target of NIR or net international reserves, sources said.
The central bank governor, Abdur Rouf Talukder, made the explanations during the meeting with the IMF mission at the BB headquarters in the capital, Dhaka, according to BB Executive Director and Spokesman Md Mezbaul Haque.
He said the BB shared various reform initiatives as suggested by the IMF and progress thereon. It also informed that the country successfully curtailed the current-account-balance deficit, but there was a big deficit in the financial account, the major reason for the decline in reserves.

According to him, Bangladesh has failed to catch up to two of the six IMF-set targets. The two are a minimum NIR of US$24.46 billion as of June 30 and a minimum tax collection of Tk 3.46 trillion in the fiscal year 2022-23.
He said the regulator highlighted the achievements and progress made in other sectors as per the requirements of the IMF.
Mr. Haque, also an executive director of the BB, said the IMF team would assess overall condition of the economy before sitting with the central bank over again and share the outcomes of the meetings.
"We could get the final feedback in the concluding meeting scheduled for October 19," he adds.
The IMF delegation, led by Rahul Anand, the mission chief for the Bangladesh, Asia and Pacific department, held its first review meeting with the governor and top officials of the central bank. They will also hold a series of meetings with other stakeholders to review the performance in getting to the goals set for the first half of 2023.
Seeking anonymity, a BB official said the issue of the NIR came up and the governor explained the reasons behind the failure to meet the requirement, as the country's forex reserves deplete.
"The IMF delegation seems to be convinced with the explanation. I think it will not be major issue in terms of getting the second tranche ($448 million) of the IMF's $4.7 billion loans," the official said on a note of optimism about the dollars coming in the next dollop.
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