$6 billion foreign loan commitments may come by June: finance adviser
The government expects to get new loan commitments worth $6 billion for reform activities from the development partners within next June, Finance Adviser Salehuddin Ahmed said today.
They will come from multiple development partners, including the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, the Asian Development Bank and the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec), he said.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. The adviser shared the information with journalists after a meeting with an IMF mission at his office in the capital.
The mission, led by its chief Chris Papadakis, came to Bangladesh to review the country's performance and compliance with structural reform conditions that the IMF attached for the fourth tranche of the $4.7 billion loan.
The government will seek extra fund as it is going through a reform process in many sectors like banking, which will require additional spending, the adviser said.
It may take time to disburse the fund, as it is not possible to release the entire amount within a year, he said.
However, the commitments may come by June this year, he added.
Earlier in August after taking charge of the country, the interim government had said it would seek $3 billion of additional loan from the IMF.
In October, Ahmed discussed the new IMF loan on the sidelines of the annual meetings of the IMF and the World Bank Group held in Washington in late October this year.
In today's meeting, the mission wanted to know what strategies the government has taken and will take to improve the country's economic situation, the adviser said.
He also mentioned today's scheduled meeting of the mission with the Bangladesh Bank governor, during which the delegation sought to know what steps had been taken to reform the banking sector.
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