(Reuters) -The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Thursday that Bangladesh’s near-term growth was projected to slow to 5.5% in FY2023 and 6.5% in FY2024, compared with projections before the start of the Ukraine war at above 7%.
Earlier this week, the IMF approved loans of $4.7 billion to Bangladesh making it the first to secure such funds out of three South Asian countries that applied last year amid economic turmoil.
The fund would help Bangladesh to restore its macroeconomic stability and support the government’s plans to preserve and foster growth, the IMF’s Mission Chief to Bangladesh, Rahul Anand, said in a statement.
Bangladesh’s regional counterparts, Sri Lanka and Pakistan, are doing much worse economically but have not been able to get final approval for IMF loans.
“Bangladesh is not in crisis,” Anand said, adding that, like other countries, Bangladesh was also dealing with the impact of global shocks – first from the pandemic and then from the ongoing war in Ukraine.
He also said that the government authorities had taken necessary steps to navigate these challenges, such as by tightening the country’s monetary stance and allowing a more flexible exchange rate.
(Reporting by Maria Ponnezhath in Bengaluru and Ruma Paul in Dhaka; Editing by Alex Richardson)
