Shawdesh Desk:

The International Monetary Fund has extended $4.7 billion in loans for Bangladesh which has been facing a shortage of dollar.

IMF executive board, in a meeting on January 30, took the decision for providing $3.3 billion under the Extended Credit Facility and Extended Fund Facility, and $1.4 Billion under and the Resilience and Sustainability Facility, according to a statement issued by the IMF on the day.

The approval will help the country to receive about US$476 million under the 42-month long loan programme immediately, added the statement.

The rest of the loan will be disbursed in six tranches in a gap of every six months.

The IMF in its statement said that reforms on public finance, investment, and debt under the loan programme would improve spending efficiency, governance, and transparency.

Reducing financial sector vulnerabilities, strengthening oversight, enhancing governance and the regulatory framework, and developing capital markets under the same programme will increase the country’s economic growth.

In July, finance minister AHM Mustafa Kamal sought the loan from the IMF to tackle the shortage of foreign currencies hampering the import of energy items and other essentials from the international market.

The country’s foreign exchange reserves dropped to $32.29 billion on January 26 due to a high import payment obligation against a low dollar supply.

The reserves had come down to $33.83 billion on December 28, 2022 from record $48.6 billion in August 2021.