The new forex reserves requirement is likely to be set at $18.4 billion from $26.8 billion for the deadline of next December under the ongoing $4.7 billion loan programme of the International Monetary Fund.
Besides, the forex reserves requirement for the deadline of June next is likely to set at $20.8 billion, said the finance division officials on Wednesday while referring to the consensus reached between the government of Bangladesh and the visiting IMF mission in the capital.
The officials said they had also successfully convinced the IMF mission to revise down the collection target of the National Board of Revenue at Tk 3.94 lakh crore from previous Tk 4.10 lakh crore by the end of the current financial year in June.
They also said that reforms in the exchange rate policy, interest rate and fuel oil prices also have been deferred on ground of the upcoming national election to be held in January.
The finance division officials said that the future of the IMF loan progremme, which began early this year, would depend on the next government.
The IMF mission will meet finance minister AHM Mustafa Kamal at a city hotel to conclude its 16-day mission today.
The main task of the mission is to review the conditions set for the deadline of June 2023.
The forex reserves requirement has been a major condition, but Bangladesh Bank failed to keep the forex reserves requirement of $24.4 billion till June 2023 by around $4 billion.
The government has also failed to meet the revenue mobilisation target by 0.5 per cent of the gross domestic product, another major criterion for the successful review against the disbursement of the second tranche in November.
The amount under the second tranche is around $700 million.
The IMF disbursed the first tranche of $476 million in January under the loan programme after the government had increased the prices of fuel oils by around 50 per cent in August 2022.
The finance division officials said the country was in need for timely disbursement of the second tranche to reduce pressure on forex reserves and also ensure loan from World Bank and Asian Development Bank.
BB sold $3.75 billion between July 1 and October 8 after injecting $21.12 billion in the past two financial years.
The overall forex reserves now hovers around $17 billion despite restricting monthly import payments to $4.8 billion in August 2023 from $6.8 billion in August 2022.
Earnings from exports rose 10.37 per cent to $4.31 billion in September, but earnings from remittances hit a 41-month low at $1.34 billion in September.
Besides, net foreign loans decreased by 30.47 per cent during July-August of FY24.
New Age
