Former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, who resigned amid a mass uprising and fled to India, left behind a meagre $16.57 billion worth of foreign exchange reserve. The newly formed interim government, led by Nobel laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus, begins its journey with this reserve.
The Ministry of Finance reported the latest reserve figures to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Thursday, according to sources within the ministry.
According to IMF sources, the reserve targets were set at $14.885 billion for the end of September and $15.300 billion for the end of December this year. The targets for 2025 are $16.601 billion by the end of March and $19.440 billion by the end of June.
The IMF is expected to begin negotiations for the fourth tranche of the loan soon and will review the conditions attached to it.
According to the BPM6 method, the net reserves of the country sttod at $15 billion at the end of May 2024. However, it was lower than the IMF's set target. So such target had been lower down by the fund after receiving a formal request from the then Government of Bangladesh.
The IMF agreed to lower its reserve target for the end of FY24 from the initial $20.10 billion to $14.769 billion after Bangladesh Bank committed to introducing a crawling peg system for the foreign exchange market. This adjustment cleared the way for Bangladesh to receive the third installment of the IMF loan, amounting to $1.15 billion.
The IMF has provided a detailed plan on how Bangladesh can increase its reserves in the future.
A senior Finance Ministry official told The Business Post that there had been significant concerns over the disbursement of the fourth tranche of the IMF loan due to the Fund's stringent approach towards Bangladesh. However, the appointment of Professor Yunus as the leader of the interim government has instilled optimism, given his global reputation.
