2 months' remittance enough to clear foreign debts: Finance Minister

Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal today said there is nothing to worry about Bangladesh's foreign debt as the annual debt repayment amount is equivalent to only two months' remittance income of the country.

The minister said $2 billion in remittances will come this month. The foreign debt will have to be repaid $2.4 billion this year, $2.8 billion next year, $3.3 billion the following year and $4 billion the following year, he added.

He presented the information about the repayment of four years of foreign debt in a pre-budget discussion with the editors tonight.  "All of these loans can be repaid with the remittances we have in two months."

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Kamal said nowadays, Bangladesh is compared to Sri Lanka. But there is a gulf of difference between Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, he said.

The minister said Sri Lanka has taken loans from commercial banks. On the other hand, Bangladesh has taken 77 per cent of loans from donner agencies like the World Bank, Asian Development Bank and others on easy terms, he added.

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"It is not logical to compare Sri Lanka with us," Kamal said.