The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has postponed the release of the fourth installment of the budget assistance loan of 4.7 billion dollars to Bangladesh. The issue of the release of the installment was scheduled to be raised in the meeting of the Executive Board of the organization on February 5, but it was postponed because of the new date of the meeting.
On March 12, the IMF board meeting may raise the issue of the fourth tranche of loans. This information was revealed on Wednesday (January 22) by the central bank. According to sources, the loan waiver for Bangladesh is getting delayed.
However, there are several conditions to get the fourth installment of IMF. Among the conditions attached, the agency has raised objections to the National Board of Revenue (NBR) revenue collection conditions and the release of dollar rates in the market. However, there is no problem from NBR’s side to get the fourth installment of the loan, an official said. In the meantime, several initiatives have been taken to increase revenue collection.
Three installments of the 4.7 billion dollar loan given to Bangladesh have been received. Bangladesh can get $645 million in the fourth tranche. Bangladesh had requested to increase the size of this ongoing loan program by another 75 crores. The IMF has also agreed to provide this increased amount. However, for this, the IMF has included some strict conditions such as tax collection and separation of policy-making bodies to increase revenue collection.
During his visit to Bangladesh in December, IMF Mission Chief Chris Papageorgiou said that they had reached an agreement with the Bangladesh government to release $645 million in the fourth tranche. The proposal for the release of the fourth tranche will be presented to the IMF Executive Board meeting, subject to certain conditions, including the formation of a commission on increasing revenue. The loan will be released if the board approves it. At the same time, they have agreed to increase the amount of loans under the ongoing program to $5.3 billion.
