Current, financial account balances see big changes after readjustment ‘under IMF pressure’

Current account balance was in surplus while financial account balance was in deficit because of differences between data provided by the EPB and the central bank

Bangladesh’s current and financial account balances from the July-April period of the recently ended FY24 have seen sudden big changes.

The current account balance deficit stood at $5.72 billion after the period while the financial account balance saw a $2.23 billion surplus, according to latest Balance of Payment data from Bangladesh Bank.

Just a month earlier, after March, the current account balance was in surplus while the financial account balance was in deficit.

Asked how the balances saw such big changes in a short period of time, Sarwar Hossain, a spokesman for the central bank, cited differences between data provided by the Export Promotion Bureau and the central bank.

“The EPB provides the export data to the Bangladesh Bank, and the Bangladesh Bank prepares the Balance of Payment data on the basis of that information. There was no mistake by the Bangladesh Bank. But there were differences between the export value of the central bank and the EPB,” he explained.

Economist Ahsan H Mansur, executive director of Policy Research Institute, said the government agencies started giving “correct data under pressure from the International Monetary Fund”.

“Actually, our exports were not as big as they were shown. Current account balance was in surplus because of showing more exports,” he said.

Bangladesh has been implementing a series of reforms, including the calculation of its foreign currency reserves, as per conditions set by the IMF under a $4.7 billion loan programme.