Bangladesh, which faced a continuous reserve crisis during the regime of the ousted former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, has seen the light of day during the interim government. The government is able to repay the foreign debt without touching the foreign currency reserves. Central Bank Governor Ahsan H. Mansoor also assured that stability will return to the country’s economy within the next one year, besides increasing foreign exchange reserves.
The Governor of Bangladesh Bank gave this information in an interview given to the news agency UNB on Sunday (October 20).
He said that during the previous government, the reserve which was decreasing to 1.3 billion dollars per month, now it has returned to a positive trend. Meanwhile, a lot of money has been given to pay off fertilizer and electricity debts. Apart from this, some debts of Adani-Chevron have also been repaid. Everyone’s debt has been reduced somewhat.
The governor said that various organizations have accumulated debts of 250 million dollars to the government for electricity, energy and other emergency services. In the last two months, the central bank has paid off $1.8 billion, reducing this arrears to just $700 million.
He said, it is expected that the pressure on the country’s economy will be reduced by paying these debts. Our goal is to reduce debt to zero within the next two months. If we succeed in this, the liquidity in the market will increase. As a result economic activities will be more dynamic.
According to International Monetary Fund’s reserve calculation method BPM 6, as of October 8, the net reserve of foreign currency of Bangladesh was 1 thousand 982 million dollars, and the gross or total reserve was 2 thousand 497 million dollars.
Meanwhile, the central bank is preparing to collect another 10 billion dollar loan from various international organizations. However, Governor Ahsan H. Mansoor is somewhat worried about the ongoing pressure to pay off the foreign debt of $103 billion. He said, patience should be at least one year to handle the situation.
