Bangladesh receives 1st instalment of IMF’s $4.7 billion loan: BB spokesperson

PBC NEWS DESK: Bangladesh received $476 million as the first instalment of a $4.7 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Thursday.

Bangladesh Bank (BB) received this amount three days after approval of the IMF loan, said Mezbaul Haque, executive director and spokesman of BB.

He confirmed to UNB that releasing of the first instalment from the IMF has strengthened Bangladesh’s foreign exchange reserves as it reached $33.69 billion on Thursday.

Bangladesh will get about $3.3 billion under the Extended Credit Facility (ECF) and the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) and about $1.4 billion under the Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF).

With the approval of a $1.4 billion loan under the Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF), Bangladesh became the first country in Asia to receive a loan from the fund created for low and middle-income countries that are at risk due to climate change.

Bangladesh will get the loan through seven instalments and have to pay the loan at 2 percent interest rateBangladesh formally requested the IMF for $4.5 billion loan assistance in July 2022.

Then the IMF assured that the global lender was ready to discuss the issue.The IMF discussed with Finance minister AHM Mustafa Kamal and Bangladesh Bank Governor Abdur Rouf Taluktherin on the sidelines of the board meeting in July last year.

As per the discussion an IMF team led by Rahul Anand visited Dhaka from October 26 to November 9, 2022 to discuss the IMF’s support for Bangladesh.

Later, Antoinette Monsio Sayeh, Deputy Managing Director (DMD), visited Bangladesh from January 14-18 this year and praised the economic development and social progress of Bangladesh.