IMF mission arrives today to discuss PSI deal
Tuesday, 4 September 2007
FE Report
An International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission is scheduled to arrive in the capital today (Tuesday) to initiate discussions on a 'possible successor' to the Poverty Reduction Growth Facility (PRGF) arrangement.
Led by its Asia Pacific adviser Thomas Rumbough, the fortnight-long IMF mission will review ongoing reform programmes in banking, revenue and energy sectors, sources said.
The government is now in the process of signing a fresh agreement with IMF after the PRGF that expired in June last. The possible successor to the PRGF is the Policy Support Instrument (PSI), source added.
Introduced in October 2005, the PSI enables the IMF to support low-income countries that do not want or need financial assistance. The PSI, which is voluntary and demand driven, is meant for seeking continuous IMF endorsement of their economic policies. The PSI also provides an important signal to bilateral and multilateral donors and financial markets that economic policies of the country concerned have been discussed with and endorsed by the IMF.
Sources said the ministry of finance (MoF) has already sought approval from its adviser Mirza Azizul Islam for signing the new deal.
The modalities for signing a successor to the PRGF were discussed between the present caretaker government and the IMF's during a visit of IMF South Asian executive director Adarsha Kishore in Dhaka early last month.
The IMF has indicated that the latest mission would focus on more than a dozen issues.
It has already expressed its willingness to know from the government about the revenue impact of the on-going anti-corruption drive and the projection thereof for the current fiscal.
Other issues, which would come up for discussions in the meetings, might include the planned changes in land valuation and projected revenue collection, subsequent to such changes, in the current fiscal, government plans to expedite the process of implementing projects under the Annual Development Programme (ADP) and financial and operational improvements of the loss-making Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC).
Under the PRGF, the country was to receive $590.7 million that included $78.7 million under Trade Integration Mechanism (TIM) credit.
The IMF released about US$467.4 million until October 2006 in five PRGF instalments.
It, however, did not release the sixth and the instalment.
An International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission is scheduled to arrive in the capital today (Tuesday) to initiate discussions on a 'possible successor' to the Poverty Reduction Growth Facility (PRGF) arrangement.
Led by its Asia Pacific adviser Thomas Rumbough, the fortnight-long IMF mission will review ongoing reform programmes in banking, revenue and energy sectors, sources said.
The government is now in the process of signing a fresh agreement with IMF after the PRGF that expired in June last. The possible successor to the PRGF is the Policy Support Instrument (PSI), source added.
Introduced in October 2005, the PSI enables the IMF to support low-income countries that do not want or need financial assistance. The PSI, which is voluntary and demand driven, is meant for seeking continuous IMF endorsement of their economic policies. The PSI also provides an important signal to bilateral and multilateral donors and financial markets that economic policies of the country concerned have been discussed with and endorsed by the IMF.
Sources said the ministry of finance (MoF) has already sought approval from its adviser Mirza Azizul Islam for signing the new deal.
The modalities for signing a successor to the PRGF were discussed between the present caretaker government and the IMF's during a visit of IMF South Asian executive director Adarsha Kishore in Dhaka early last month.
The IMF has indicated that the latest mission would focus on more than a dozen issues.
It has already expressed its willingness to know from the government about the revenue impact of the on-going anti-corruption drive and the projection thereof for the current fiscal.
Other issues, which would come up for discussions in the meetings, might include the planned changes in land valuation and projected revenue collection, subsequent to such changes, in the current fiscal, government plans to expedite the process of implementing projects under the Annual Development Programme (ADP) and financial and operational improvements of the loss-making Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC).
Under the PRGF, the country was to receive $590.7 million that included $78.7 million under Trade Integration Mechanism (TIM) credit.
The IMF released about US$467.4 million until October 2006 in five PRGF instalments.
It, however, did not release the sixth and the instalment.