The plan comes as $42.85b foreign funds remained unused at start of current FY
Led by Finance Adviser Salehuddin Ahmed, the Bangladesh delegation held a series of meetings with IMF representatives in Washington.
The International Monetary Fund has no major disagreement with Bangladesh over reforms to the National Board of Revenue, one of the conditions set by the lender for the fourth and fifth instalments of the $4.7 billion loan.
The United States Trade Representative (USTR), the US government’s chief trade negotiation body, wants to see Bangladesh’s work plan on narrowing the bilateral trade gap before the Trump administration makes a call on reciprocal tariffs.
The fourth tranche of the instalment was deferred due to disagreements and now talks are going on to release two tranches at once.
Bangladesh is confronting a potential rise in poverty and inequality as stubborn inflation, job losses and a slowing economy erode household welfare, according to a World Bank report.
The government has increased the monthly salary for outsourced manpower of state-owned and state-run organisations after around six years by Tk 570 to Tk 1,102 in several cities and categories.
As much as $900 million has been on hold since 2022 in the central bank's escrow account
The interim government is planning to prepare a small budget with a 6 percent GDP growth target for the next fiscal year considering the sluggish economy and low revenue collection.
Revenue collection fell significantly short of the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) target in the first six months of the current fiscal year, with the floor for the fourth instalment of an ongoing $4.7 billion loan programme proving too ambitious.
For several months, food inflation had also remained in double digits
The total cost of the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant project is Tk 1,14,225 crore, with the majority financed by Russia.
Revision comes due to slow project implementation
Bangladesh and India began a two-day meeting to review Indian-funded projects, which have been running behind schedule.
The test run may start by the end of 2025 after a year's delay as the gridline on the Padma river is taking longer than anticipated to materialise
The government’s borrowing from domestic sources surged in the first half of FY25, primarily driven by a substantial increase in the issuance of special bonds, particularly those issued to clear arrears to electricity and fertiliser producers, as well as treasury bills (T-bills) and bonds targeting institutional and individual investors.
In a first, the ministries and divisions would be allocated more funds than they are seeking in the revised development budget for this fiscal year as the government attempts to rev up a slowing economy.
The government has set an ambitious revenue growth target in this fiscal year’s revised budget given that three major multilateral development partners are stressing ramping up domestic resource mobilisation.
