Finance Minister AMA Muhith said the government would start negotiations with International Monetary Fund for the new policy support loan during the World Bank-IMF yearly board meeting in October in Lima, Peru’s capital.
He also hoped the sixth instalment amounting to $140m of the existing Extended Credit Facility loan would be released in September. “An ECF review team will visit Dhaka soon before the release,” Muhith told journalists yesterday after a meeting with the outgoing IMF executive director and UK state minister for international development.
He said the amount of new policy support loan would not be less the current ECF loan amount which is $1bn.
He said the last and seventh tranche of the ECF fund would be released at the end of October after meeting two conditions tagged with it – amendment to the VAT law and audit of Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation by an international fund.
“Amendment to VAT law now awaits passage into Parliament, which may be done by mid-September while audit of BPC can also be conducted by this time,” finance minister said.
About Bangladesh’s middle income status, he said the UN Committee for Developing Planning would sit in 2018 when Bangladesh became a middle income nation. “However, we will continue to receive facilities for a least development country up to next three year from 2018.”
Muhith said Bangladesh had already received commercial loans from France, China and Japan and planned to borrow from USA for the country’s satellite project.
Last week, the Economic Relations Division sent a letter to Finance Division requesting to prepare a proposal for another interest-free ECF credit from IMF.
The negations for more ECF funds are also likely to be held during the October World Bank-IMF yearly board meeting.
