The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has approved the disbursement of the next two tranches—totaling $1.3 billion—of its $4.7 billion loan package for Bangladesh, with funds scheduled to be released in June.
The decision came after a series of high-level meetings in Washington between Bangladesh Bank Governor Dr. Ahsan H. Mansur and senior IMF officials, the central bank confirmed. The funds had been on hold due to concerns over Bangladesh’s progress in adopting a more flexible exchange rate regime—specifically a crawling peg system—and improving its tax-to-GDP ratio.
An IMF staff mission, led by Chris Papageorgiou, visited Dhaka from April 6 to 17 to conduct a combined third and fourth review of the country’s reform progress under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF), Extended Credit Facility (ECF), and the Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF).
Dr. Mansur is expected to address the outcome of the negotiations during a press conference on Wednesday, May 14, which he will attend virtually from Dubai.
