To counter global recession:
Bangladesh gets IMF loan
BANGLADESH: The International Monetary Fund will allocate special
drawing rights (SDRs) worth $735 million to Bangladesh by early
September to strengthen its foreign exchange reserves to counter the
global recession, an IMF official said on Monday.
"It is a new allocation for Bangladesh as member country of IMF and
it is not given as a loan, but as a part of the global financial
watchdog's stepped up effort to inject liquidity in the central banks
across the globe," IMF resident representative Jonathan C. Dunn said.A
first instalment of $630 million would be disbursed to Bangladesh's
central bank on Aug 28 and the remaining $105 million on Sept 9, he told
Reuters.
The IMF said earlier this month that its member countries had
approval a plan to bolster their reserves by $250 billion to help them
weather the global crisis, disbursed in proportion to each member's IMF
quota.
Bangladesh has a quota of SDR 533.30 million in the IMF.
The SDR is an international reserve asset, created by the IMF in 1969
to supplement member countries' official reserves. Its value is based on
a basket of four key international currencies, and SDRs can be exchanged
for freely usable currencies.
Bangladesh's foreign exchange reserves are hovering around $8.2
billion.
"The injection of IMF funds will raise the reserve of central bank to
nearly $9.0 billion, meaning to cover an import payment of at least five
months," a central bank official said.
The country received more than half a billion dollars in the form of
an anti-poverty soft loan facility from the IMF during the tenure of the
previous government.
Dhaka, Monday, Reurets |