FT publishes FM's rejoinder

The rejoinder sent to the Financial Times by Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal was published in the letter section of the London-based daily.
Following is the text of the rejoinder:
"We appreciate the Financial Times reporting on developments in the Bangladesh economy.
However, we feel the headline on your report "Bangladesh's finance minister warns on Belt and Road loans from China" (Interview, FT.com, August 9) does not properly reflect the minister's actual position.
The report mentioned Sri Lanka, which defaulted on its sovereign debt in May and is in negotiations with the IMF.
The report said that BRI loans had "exacerbated a severe economic crisis" in that country but it did not say that Chinese loans led to the defaulting; rather the problem arose from sovereign debt.
Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal in the interview made clear that any project in any country could be financed if it is proven financially viable through rigorous study. He stressed that Bangladesh would never take on finance from any authority if it were not feasible.
He was in no way warning about Chinese loans. To be clear, Bangladesh owes approximately $4bn to China - a trifling amount compared with Bangladesh's gross domestic product of $416bn, and its external debt of $51bn (2021 figures).
The FT report said "[Bangladesh] foreign reserves have also fallen to less than $40bn from more than $45bn a year ago".
It should have been made clear that reserves stood at only $32.7bn in June 2019. By August 2021, they had risen 47 per cent to $48.1bn, the highest ever recorded in the history of Bangladesh.
Today, the reserves stand at $40bn, enough for more than five months' import payments and beyond the risk threshold prescribed by the IMF."
mirmostafiz@yahoo.com