Reasons why finance minister won't join WB-IMF conference

Finance minister AHM Mustafa Kamal will not join the six-day long annual conference of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which is scheduled to kick off today, Monday in Washington, with the participation of finance ministers and the governors from 188 countries.     

Bangladesh Bank governor Abdur Rouf Talukder will lead a 11-member delegation -- who have already reached the United States.  

When asked about skipping the conference, the minister told Prothom Alo that he just arrived in the country after attending a meeting at Asian Development Bank (ADB) headquarters in Manila in the Philippines. That is why he handed over the charge to the governor.

"I think no problem will emerge if I do not participate in the conference", said the finance minister.   

Earlier on 29 August, AHM Mustafa Kamal told Prothom Alo that, “I will join the IMF annual conference this year and my first meeting with them will be held there. I will highlight the necessity of loans. However, the conditions IMF set to disburse loans are not bad at all.”

The finance ministry sources said the government wants 4 billion dollar loans from IMF. Earlier, Bangladesh sent a letter to IMF seeking loans. In this regard, a meeting is scheduled to be held there.    

However, according to the letter the Economic Relations Division (ERD) sent to the Office of the Controller General of Accounts (CGA) on 5 September, the finance minister is the leader of the trip while the central bank governor is the deputy leader.       

The other members of the team are: finance secretary Fatima Yeasmin, ERD secretary Sharifa Khan, ERD additional secretary Abdul Baki, Bangladesh Bank chief economist Habibur Rahman, finance minister’s personal secretary Md Ferdous Alam, finance division deputy secretary Abu Daiyan Mohammad Ahsanullah, finance minister office senior assistant secretary Syed Ali Bin Hasan, Alternate Executive Director of Bangladesh in UN Mohammad Shafiul Alam, Bangladesh ambassador to the US Mohammad Imran and economic minister Md Mehedy Hasan.