Antoinette Monsio Sayeh, the Deputy Managing Director (DMD) of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), has arrived in Dhaka for a five-day visit.
Till January 18, she will remain in Dhaka. Sayeh will meet with the prime minister, the minister of finance, the governor of the Bangladesh Bank, and other top government officials during her visit.
After finishing her current tour to India, Sayeh will travel from Delhi to Dhaka, according to sources in the finance ministry.
On January 18, the IMF DMD will go to Padma Bridge. On January 16, a meeting with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is planned. Sayeh will submit a report to the IMF’s main office outlining Bangladesh’s $4.5 billion loan to fight the world economic downturn.
The study will be made available to the board of the IMF. On the basis of this, the loan application process will be completed.
The government and IMF have come to an in-principle agreement about the loan. Only the legalities are left now.
A few requirements have already been put into place. On Thursday, electricity prices increased by an average of 5% in order to fulfill another IMF requirement.
The government will ask for some time to comply with additional IMF requirements.
In the meantime, the Bangladesh Bank will tomorrow, in compliance with the IMF’s requirements, announce the new monetary policy for the months of January through June of the current fiscal year. It will have the appearance of slightly raising the loan interest rate. The rate of inflation will be regulated concurrently via monetary policy.
Because of this, the issue of raising the central bank’s policy interest rate is also under consideration.
The first payment of the IMF loan is anticipated to be made to the government in February. There would be a first installment payment of $45.45 crore. After then, payments will be made once every six months.
