No decision yet on installment, talks to continue: IMF

Bangladesh and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have yet to reach a decision in the latest review meeting on disbursement of the fourth and fifth installment of ongoing USD 4.7 billion loan programme.

Without providing any final decisions, the IMF said discussions would continue, and if everything goes well, the two installments may be released by the end of June. The IMF officials made the statement in an official briefing at the Bangladesh Bank on Thursday, following a two-week review on the loan.

Chris Papageorgiou, chief of the development macroeconomics division of the IMF’s research department, and other officials were present at the briefing.

Papageorgiou said further discussions would take place at the upcoming IMF-World Bank spring meetings in Washington, scheduled for 21–26 April.​ He noted that foreign exchange reserves are stable and even higher than expected. If the foreign exchange rate is made flexible, the economy will be more stable.

The IMF laid emphasis on reforming the tax system, saying there would be clear differences between tax policy and administration. Besides, the authorities should reduce tax exemptions, ease up tax policy, and find sustainable sources for revenue.

The IMF mission held meetings with officials from the Bangladesh Bank, Finance Division, National Board of Revenue (NBR), Financial Institutions Division, Power Division, Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB), Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC), and the Energy and Mineral Resources Division throughout the last two weeks since 6 April.

They also met finance adviser Salehuddin Ahmed on 6 and 16 April.