An International Monetary Fund mission will begin today its fifth review of the current $5.5 billion loan programme for Bangladesh, but the release of new fund will be delayed for the next national elections.
Led by Chris Papageorgiou, the IMF mission will review conditions linked to foreign exchange reserves, subsidy in the energy and fertiliser sectors, and revenue generation under the review period until June 2025.
Bangladesh has nearly fulfilled the conditions under the review period expiring on June 2025.
But the country is unlikely to get the sixth tranche worth around $400 million timely because of the conditions attached by the Washington-based multilateral lender.
The IMF will delay disbursing the sixth tranche until the next Jatiya Sangsad polls and the new elected government assumes office, according to finance ministry officials.
Usually, the IMF disburses loan within two months of a review.聽聽聽
The interim government that assumed power on August 8, 2024 three days after the Awami League regime was ousted amid a mass uprising has announced that the next general election would be held in February.
Finance ministry officials said that they were expecting the releases of the sixth and the seventh tranches in June 2026.聽聽
On June 23, the IMF approved the release of the fourth and fifth tranches amounting to $1.3 billion, taking the overall amount of disbursement to $3.6 billion.
In June 2025, the IMF also increased the overall loan amount to $5.5 billion from $4.7 billion under the loan programme that began in 2023 under the AL regime in 2023 to meet the balance of payment shortage.聽聽
The progarmme period has also been extended by six months to January 27, 2027 from July 2026, following requests from Dhaka.
The interim government has already reduced the balance of payment pressure.
Driven by higher remittance and export earnings, the country鈥檚 gross foreign exchange reserves increased to $32 billion on October 16, the highest in 31 months.
The latest IMF mission is also linked to the Article IV report, an annual consultations with its member countries on overall economy, on Bangladesh.
The mission that will meet with finance adviser Salehuddin Ahmed on November 6 will conclude on November 13.
