Govt seeks loans from IMF to cut pressure on BoP
“Earlier IMF had wanted to help us but we did not need it then. We need it now. We really have problems,” Muhith told reporters after a meeting with the visiting IMF mission.
The government seeks assistance from IMF to reduce pressure on balance of payments, Muhith said.
The chief of the IMF delegation, David Cowen, held a meeting with Muhith at the minister's secretariat office on the macroeconomic situation.
There has been heavy pressure on balance of payments (BoP; and the foreign exchange reserves will also fall substantially.
Muhith said the government sought budget support from the World Bank, Asian Development Bank and Japan as well.
“In 2010, IMF wanted to assist us though we did not want it,” he said.
As the government has made a fresh request for assistance, an IMF mission may soon visit Dhaka to discuss the matter, Muhith said. But he was not sure whether the assistance will be available in the current fiscal year.
Earlier, IMF had backtracked on its pledge to provide $1 billion under the extended credit facility as the government did not meet the conditions in time. For the same reason, the WB did not give $1 billion in expected assistance either.