IMF just made the case for its own irrelevance

On Friday the 11th, the IMF announced policy changes that will save developing countries $1.2 billion per year. Despite the self-congratulations and fanfare, these reforms are only a tiny fraction of what campaigners had been asking for — and an even smaller share of what the Global South needs. This month,

IMF lauds Dhaka’s efforts to take forward forex reserves

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has lauded Bangladesh for recent introduction of the Crawling Peg Mid-Rate (CPMR) system which is helping foreign exchange reserves going forward. "The transition to a crawling peg with the band exchange rate arrangement is a welcome step toward greater exchange rate flexibility. The increased flexibility should

Govt fails to meet IMF’s 2023 forex reserves target

Despite relaxed conditions for net reserves by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Bangladesh could not meet the foreign exchange reserves target at the end of 2023. According to the IMF loan documents, the actual reserves were supposed to be USD $17.78 billion at the end of December 2023. However, as the

Rich nations, IMF deepen world stagnation

With the US Fed raising interest rates, the world economy is slowing as debt distress spreads across the global South, increasing poverty worldwide to pre-pandemic levels, with the poorest countries faring worst. Extreme poverty continues to be high and is now worse than before the pandemic in low-income countries (LICs) and

IMF approves second tranche of US$682m loan for Bangladesh

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has approved the installment of US$682 million in the second portion of the $4.7 billion loan package allocated for Bangladesh. Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal late last night confirmed, saying the approval came at the multilateral lender's board meeting. Bangladesh applied to the IMF for a loan

Bangladesh economy is on right track: IMF

Mentioning various measures of the government to address macroeconomic challenges, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has observed that Bangladesh economy is on the right track. "I think, the economy is on right track in terms of meeting the objective of programme, getting inflation under control and addressing macroeconomic challenges given in

Budget not based on IMF conditions: Kamal

Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal has said that the budget for the fiscal year (FY) 2023-24 was not based on the conditions of the International Monetary Fund (IMF)."Like in different countries, the IMF has come to Bangladesh and made some recommendations to help the economy. We took their prescriptions as

Retail power tariff raised again by 5pc

Electricity tariff was raised further in Bangladesh at both retail level with effect from Wednesday (March 1).  The Power Division - through administrative order and in two separate gazette notifications - raised the tariff.  "Power tariff was raised by 5 percent", power secretary Habibur Rahman told UNB.  This has been the third time

Inflation to be calculated on new base year on IMF advice

Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) is making radical changes in the inflation calculation considering the present financial situation and the IMF suggestions.The inflation will be calculated for the base year 2021-22 instead of the existing base year of 2005-06, which will be more accurate as lifestyle and consumer behaviors made