Rejaul Karim Byron

The health ministry’s development spending has dropped substantially year-on-year in the first five months of the current fiscal year, despite the interim government’s move to raise its allocation in the revised budget.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has become the first among multilateral and bilateral lenders to respond to the interim government's call for budgetary support, approving $600 million aimed at easing pressure on foreign exchange reserves and accelerating economic recovery.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has offered an additional $1 billion to Bangladesh but the government is pushing for at least $2 billion to implement the interim government’s reform agenda, narrow the deficit in the current account and shore up the dollar stockpile.

Bangladesh’s national budget for fiscal year 2024-25 is likely to be reduced by more than Tk 50,000 crore, with the entire cut expected to be made in funds meant for the annual development programme (ADP).

A total of $234 billion was siphoned off from Bangladesh between 2009 and 2023, according to the white paper on the state of the economy.

Distressed assets in the banking sector have reached a whooping Tk 6,75,030 crore, an amount bigger than the cost of building 22 bridges across the Padma or 13.5 metro rail systems in Dhaka, according to a White Paper released yesterday.

Bangladesh is on track to meet all 12 conditions set by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to qualify for the fourth tranche of a $4.7 billion loan programme, only missing the revenue collection target.

Bangladesh has lost around $14 billion a year on average to capital flight during the Awami League’s 15-year tenure, according to the draft report of the committee preparing a white paper on the economy.

The interim government is struggling to pay the power bill arrears that were caused largely by “unfair” contracts signed between the previous administration and power producers, and rising international fuel prices.

Bangladesh to utilise the fund to speed up reforms, stabilise reserves

The interim government is going to curtail its expenditure focusing on the budget for 2024-25 in order to keep fiscal pressure within its control, contain inflation and prevent foreign currency reserves from falling further.

The Bangladesh Bank (BB) should take measures to prevent “second-round effects” of inflation, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said.

The World Bank has committed to giving Bangladesh $400 million for implementing the next five-year plan for the health sector, which is estimated to cost around $9 billion.

The decision on whether to formulate another minimum wage for garment workers after making adjustments in line with inflation will be made by April next year.

Three advisers to the interim government of Bangladesh will meet today to discuss solutions for taming inflation, which remains high even though several initiatives have been implemented to this end.

The interim government is going to formulate a specific roadmap to recover funds of the Bangladesh Climate Change Trust (BCCT), amounting to Tk 873.82 crore, that have been held up in Padma Bank since 2016.

Bangladesh has drafted the Cross-Border Digital Commerce Policy 2024, marking a significant step towards integrating the economy with the global digital marketplace as it looks to facilitate globally accepted payment methods.

The government is set to import a substantial quantity of rice and withdraw import duties to boost stock.

The interim government plans to strengthen the universal pension scheme (UPS) with the aim of bringing people from all walks of life under a sustainable social security framework.

Bangladesh recorded its lowest economic growth in the past five quarters in the last quarter of fiscal 2023-24 due to contractionary monetary and fiscal policies to tackle the dwindling forex reserves and high inflation.