Daijiworld Media Network - New Delhi
New Delhi, Aug 22: The remaining funds under Bangladesh's International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme remain stalled as the global lender presses Dhaka to complete a series of pending financial-sector and climate-resilience reforms, according to a new report.
Bangladesh-based publication The Asian Age reported that the IMF has set nearly a dozen conditions for reactivating the suspended programme. These include banking-sector and legal reforms, capacity building for the National Board of Revenue (NBR), and providing single-click access to taxpayer information.
The lender has also sought the removal of fuel and electricity subsidies, adoption of a market-based foreign exchange rate and measures to strengthen climate resilience.
The Bangladesh government is seeking an additional $2 billion in budget support alongside the remaining tranches of a $4.7 billion IMF programme, the report said.
An IMF Fiscal Affairs Department delegation recently visited Dhaka to review progress in key sectors and assess tax policies, with the findings expected to help determine the future of the loan programme.
"The incomplete reform activities under the previous loan program with the IMF got priority under the new program. As a result, this visit was not limited solely to assessing climate policies, but also played a crucial role in setting the future direction of economic reforms," the report said.
An IMF Technical Assistance (TA) mission also visited Bangladesh in July to evaluate the country's policies, financial structures and institutional capacity to address climate change. The findings are expected to play a significant role in discussions over a potential new loan programme.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh's recently released Public Financial Management Reform Strategy 2025-2030 has, for the first time, incorporated climate-smart public financial management and gender-responsive budgeting.
Nearly Tk 42,206.89 crore has also been allocated across 25 ministries for climate-related expenditure in the FY26 budget, accounting for 10.09 per cent of the total allocation.
"We hope that the IMF will consider different difficulties of Bangladesh to meet cent percent of the loan conditions. Despite some challenges, we are expecting the loans will be released in favour of Bangladesh," the report quoted Finance Secretary Dr Md Khairuzzaman Mozumder as saying.