BANGLADESH

Bangladesh Bank governor Atiur Rahman has expressed his hopes of receiving $1 billion in loans after returning from the annual meet of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Landing at Shahjalal International Airport on Monday morning following his US trip, he told bdnews24.com, "We have had positive talks with the IMF about a $1 billion Extended Credit Facility (ECF). We are hoping to get the loan soon."

The IMF steps in with the ECF when any country's transaction becomes imbalanced. The governor said that the loan would help balance Bangladesh's transaction and pointed out that the rate of interest on the loan was very low.

The country's transactions became imbalanced after the central bank's foreign currency reserve fell below $1 billion recently, which, according to economists, might not be enough to meet import costs.

However, the IMF has its expressed satisfaction over Bangladesh's overall economic scenario, the governor added. He said, "They have taken our fiscal measures as a positive, especially collection of more than 28 percent of taxes."

A team of representatives, who had recently visited Dhaka, had also given positive reports about Bangladesh, the governor continued.

IMF also lauded Bangladesh for its initiative to implement a number of new laws and steps to renovate the sector in a bid to hike revenue earnings.

The governor also attended the annual meeting of the World Bank during his stay at Washington. Finance minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith and economic secretary Mohammad Tarek also attended the two meets.