The International Monetary Fund has set a prior condition for introducing a full 15 percent statutory VAT rate on 213 products before placing the $645 million loan proposal for the fourth tranche to its executive board.
Finance adviser talks about govt’s 3 strategies to ease economic strain
The interim government may consider a dearness allowance for lower-grade government staff to provide respite from the ongoing high inflation.
Subsidies for the power sector are likely to balloon 83 percent this fiscal year as the interim government is planning to clear all arrears owed to private power producers.
As much as $670 million (around Tk 8,200 crore) from slow-moving World Bank-funded projects will be repurposed, with most of the funds going towards budget support as the government looks to navigate the narrow fiscal space amid a slowing economy.
Over half of the government’s total revenue expenditure during the first four months of the current fiscal year of 2024–25 was on interest payments alone, mainly due to increased borrowing and a rise in the interest rates.
A task force formed by the planning ministry is going to recommend the formation of an independent centre for delivering government services via social media and utilising artificial intelligence (AI).
The interim government has increased interest rates on various national savings certificates to upwards of 12 percent in an effort to make these instruments more attractive to savers and to cool inflation.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has offered an additional $1 billion to Bangladesh but the government is pushing for at least $2 billion to implement the interim government’s reform agenda, narrow the deficit in the current account and shore up the dollar stockpile.
Bangladesh’s national budget for fiscal year 2024-25 is likely to be reduced by more than Tk 50,000 crore, with the entire cut expected to be made in funds meant for the annual development programme (ADP).
A total of $234 billion was siphoned off from Bangladesh between 2009 and 2023, according to the white paper on the state of the economy.
Distressed assets in the banking sector have reached a whooping Tk 6,75,030 crore, an amount bigger than the cost of building 22 bridges across the Padma or 13.5 metro rail systems in Dhaka, according to a White Paper released yesterday.
Bangladesh is on track to meet all 12 conditions set by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to qualify for the fourth tranche of a $4.7 billion loan programme, only missing the revenue collection target.
Bangladesh has lost around $14 billion a year on average to capital flight during the Awami League’s 15-year tenure, according to the draft report of the committee preparing a white paper on the economy.
The interim government is struggling to pay the power bill arrears that were caused largely by “unfair” contracts signed between the previous administration and power producers, and rising international fuel prices.
Bangladesh to utilise the fund to speed up reforms, stabilise reserves
The interim government is going to curtail its expenditure focusing on the budget for 2024-25 in order to keep fiscal pressure within its control, contain inflation and prevent foreign currency reserves from falling further.
The Bangladesh Bank (BB) should take measures to prevent “second-round effects” of inflation, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said.
