International Monetary Fund (IMF) has agreed to provide Bangladesh with US $1.15 billion in the third installment of its loan program. This decision follows a staff-level agreement between an IMF team and the Government of Bangladesh regarding the policies needed to complete the second review under the ECF/EFF/RSF arrangements.
The approval of the Executive Board of the IMF, expected in the coming weeks, will unlock about US $932 million under the Extended Credit Facility (ECF)/Extended Fund Facility (EFF) and approximately US $220 million under the Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF), totaling US $1.15 billion for Bangladesh. The announcement coincides with the conclusion of a 15-day visit to Bangladesh by an IMF mission team led by Chris Papageorgiou, covering discussions on economic and financial policies within the framework of the second program review.
Papageorgiou acknowledged Bangladesh’s progress on structural reforms but highlighted challenges such as tighter global financial conditions, high international food and commodity prices, domestic vulnerabilities, dwindling foreign exchange reserves, and consistently high inflation, which have increased economic pressures.
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