An International Monetary Fund (IMF) delegation will visit Dhaka next month to negotiate a major loan that Bangladesh seeks specifically for funding budget deficit.
Sources said that the foreign exchange fund, required for boosting the country's reserves, has come under pressure because of soaring import costs.
The IMF responded positively to the loan proposal that Bangladesh sent for borrowing from the global lender's newly created resilience and sustainability trust (RST), they added.
During last month's annual staff mission, the IMF team made some observations after reviewing the country's macroeconomic conditions.
The IMF suggested implementing a fuel-oil-pricing mechanism, changing the method of calculating foreign-exchange reserves, and strengthening governance in banking sector, among others.
A senior Finance Ministry official said that the IMF was yet to forward any conditions before granting the proposed loan.
But the observations it made during the staff mission may resemble, during the negation period, loan conditions.
Bangladesh expects $4.5 billion from the IMF as budgetary support mainly to replenish its forex reserves amid its faster depletion owing to higher import payments and lower inflow of the greenback in recent months.
Forex reserves now stand around $39.6 billion in a slide down from $45 billion a year back, raising concern among government high-ups, economists, and experts who called for immediate steps to contain unnecessary spending of foreign currency in view of the current global crunch.
