The interim government has expressed unwillingness to revise the power tariff before the next national election slated for the first half of February, said finance ministry officials.
Officials of the Power Division and the Bangladesh Power Development Board conveyed the government鈥檚 stance on the issue to the visiting International Monetary Fund mission at meetings in the capital Dhaka.
During the meetings, the IMF mission wanted to know whether there was any plan on the part of the Bangladesh government for upward revision of power tariff for the rationalisation of subsidy.
Officials of the Power Division and the Bangladesh Power Development Board told the IMF officials that they would wait for the elected government for making decision on the issue.
They also said that the ongoing internal reform programme would continue to reduce the overall operational costs.
Besides, they expected that a substantial amount of fund would be saved from the current review of the existing power purchase agreements with the independent power producers.
The Finance Division has kept side about Tk聽37,000 crore in the 2025-26 financial year national budget for the power sector subsidy.
The amount is lower than Tk 59,600 crore spent on power subsidy in the 2024-25 financial year but higher than Tk聽33,000 crore for the same purpose in the FY聽2023-24.
The IMF mission linked to the fifth review of the current $5.5 billion loan programme and the Article IV, an annual economic review of member countries, will conclude on November 13.
One of the major conditions of the current IMF loan programme is to rationalise subsidy given under the national budget.
The IMF has so far disbursed $3.6 billion under the loan programme.
During the last disbursement in June 2025, the IMF also increased the overall loan amount to $5.5 billion from original $4.7 billion.
