Bangladesh Expects $1.1 Billion In IMF, ADB Loans By December

(Bloomberg) -- Bangladesh’s central bank said it expects $1.1 billion of loans from the International Monetary Fund and Asian Development Bank by next month, which would help ease pressure on the currency and foreign-exchange reserves.

About $681 million will come from the IMF and $400 million from the ADB, central bank spokesman Mezbaul Haque said in an interview Thursday. 

Bangladesh is facing a dollar liquidity squeeze, which prompted Fitch Ratings to cut the nation’s sovereign rating outlook in September. The South Asian nation secured a $4.7 billion loan package from the IMF earlier this year to help boost its buffers. 

The new loans would help ease the dollar shortage. The central bank estimates Bangladesh’s short-term financial obligations, mainly for import payments, were $6.9 billion in the 11 months to November, down from $16.4 billion at the end of 2022, Haque said.

While the currency was allowed to slowly depreciate this year, the nation’s foreign-exchange dealers, which announce the exchange rate, set the taka at a stronger level effective Thursday — at 110 per dollar, compared with 110.50 taka earlier. Haque said that was the “right decision,” and the currency is expected to appreciate further.

The South Asian nation aims to bring inflation down to 8% by December and 6% by the end of the fiscal year in June, Haque said. That compared with 9.9% in October. Economic stress will decline very rapidly after the national elections due in January, he said.

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