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The Daily Morning Sun Online //

Finance Advisor Dr. Salehuddin Ahmed has commented that the government is not desperate for any donor loan, including the fourth tranche of the ongoing program of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). He said that the country’s current account and financial account balance are currently good.

He said this to reporters after a meeting with World Bank Vice President for South Asia Martin Reiser in the Finance Ministry’s conference room on Sunday.

The finance advisor said that the government has fulfilled almost all the conditions set by the World Bank. There will be a separate department for policy formulation and revenue collection, initiatives have been taken to increase revenue, and tax exemptions are also being reduced. Some more conditions will be implemented before next June.

Asked whether the fourth tranche of the ongoing program of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is being delayed, he said that their board meeting will be held next March. Asked about the rumours that it could be postponed until June, the Finance Advisor said, “They have not been informed about this till now. However, the government’s position is that the current account and financial account balance are currently good. So we are not desperate at all. The same is true not only for the fourth tranche of the IMF but for any loan. The government will hold talks with the IMF before March.

Incidentally, the IMF has already postponed the fourth tranche of $645 million by another month from February 5 due to the exchange rate not being fully left to the market and the tax and revenue collection targets not being met. It is being rumoured that it will be postponed further to June.

Martin Reiser, Vice President for South Asia at the World Bank, said that other reform activities undertaken by the interim government, including transparency of statistics provided by various institutions, increasing domestic resource mobilization, were also discussed. In particular, the issue of separating the two departments for policy formulation and revenue collection was discussed. In this context, the financial advisor told them that the matter has been approved by the advisory council of the interim government. They want to implement it.

Asked whether a specific date has been given for implementation, he said that the World Bank wants to see progress on this issue within the next few months. However, they also know that the government has a specific process. He said that another important issue is that any tax exemption or new tax needs to be done through the budget through the legal process. In response to another question, Martin Riser also said that there are many challenges in the macroeconomics. However, Bangladesh is a country with potential.

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