Bangladesh finance advisor signals longer wait for IMF assistance

An IMF delegation will come to Bangladesh to discuss the resource gap between what is needed and what we have, Salehuddin Ahmed says

Finance Advisor Salehuddin Ahmed says that it will take more time for Bangladesh to receive support from the IMF.

He made the remarks after meeting with an IMF delegation at the Secretariat on Tuesday.

The adviser said, "Resources are needed to undertake various reforms and measures in the economic sector. We will extract as many domestic resources as we can, but there are some things that will require foreign assistance. One source for this is the International Monetary Fund, which can provide balance support and can play a very important role for the banking sector and other sectors.”

"A mission is coming to analyse what we need. We have told them we have taken some steps on reforms, and steps in other sectors, including the banking sector. It will take time."

He said, "We have discussed the amount of resources we will need to fill the gap in this regard. We will discuss more details with them. I spoke to them on matters of policy and the main objectives. They will meet with Bangladesh Bank on what can be done about the foreign exchange market and bank reforms. They will also meet with the NBR.”

"We have a macro policy team. They will discuss the details and their own views and then go to the World Bank meeting in October to talk with the policy makers. There, the present programme will be discussed. We have made some requests for the future. We haven't made formal requests. We said we will look at our resource gap and make formal requests. We will talk about it."

Asked what the interim government had asked for, the advisor said, "Resources, and technical assistance for banking sector reform and money laundering, then for tax reform, income tax, VAT reform. We have not only asked the IMF, but others also. By coordinating the help from others, we will let the IMF know the specifics of what kinds of help we need from them.”

"Everyone can contribute simultaneously by putting in the effort without duplicating it. Two or three organisations can, in this way, work towards the same goal. But we will need more resources. It has been discussed."