Photo: Collected
The government has no plan to exit the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) new loan programme. Instead, work is under way to align the lender’s conditions and programme with the country’s current economic realities and the government’s own five-year development plan. Finance and Planning Minister Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury hopes the discussions and adjustments will be completed by January-February.
The minister said two working groups from the two sides are working to resolve the issues on which there are differences with the IMF. Once the necessary adjustments are completed through discussions, the loan programme will resume its normal course.
He said this in reply to journalists’ questions after inaugurating the two-day ‘International Debt Conference Bangladesh 2026’ at a hotel in Cox’s Bazar on Sunday.
The Prime Minister’s special assistant on investment and capital market Tanvir Shahriar Gani, Finance Secretary Dr Khairuzzaman Mozumder, Financial Institutions Division Secretary Nazma Mobarek and senior officials of the finance ministry were present.
Asked why the IMF loan programme with its tough conditions is being continued despite the scope for financing from alternative sources, the finance minister said the government has no plan to end its relationship with the IMF or the loan programme. The government wants to implement the programme in keeping with the country’s economic realities, the interests of the people and the government’s development priorities.
He explained that the current loan programme was negotiated during the previous unelected government. It is not possible for the present elected government to implement overnight the conditions agreed to at that time. Enforcing the conditions abruptly could put extra pressure on ordinary people. The country’s trade and commerce and the overall economy could also suffer.
For this reason, the government wants to take time to implement the conditions while maintaining continuity. The government’s development plan has already been aligned with the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). Discussions are under way to align the IMF programme with the government’s priorities and plans in the same way.
The government’s argument is that if development partners’ activities are not coordinated, complications may arise in implementing projects. The government therefore wants to take the partners’ programmes forward keeping in mind the country’s priorities, capacity and economic realities.
The finance minister said the government’s position on keeping the IMF loan programme running is clear. However, efforts are under way to make necessary changes in implementing the conditions in view of the country’s realities, and the working groups of the two sides are continuing discussions to that end. The government hopes the discussions and adjustments will be completed by January-February, after which the loan programme can move forward at its normal pace again.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh is hosting an international public debt management conference for the first time, aimed at managing the government’s growing debt burden, reducing borrowing costs and risks, and finding new sources of financing for development work.
Background
According to a bdnews24.com report of 29 October 2025, Bangladesh signed a USD 4.7 billion loan agreement with the IMF in early 2023 after several rounds of talks in 2022 to tackle a financial crisis; the programme began on 30 January 2023.
According to a 17 April report by All India Radio, India’s state broadcaster, the IMF did not agree to release a USD 1.3 billion tranche due by June under the ongoing USD 5.5 billion programme; citing shortfalls in implementing reforms, the lender pressed for a move to a new loan programme.
However, an article published in the Dhaka Tribune on 28 April noted that the finance ministry had called the report of the tranche being withheld ‘completely false’, and said no final decision had been taken at that point.
Sources
Background sources: bdnews24.com, 29 October 2025; All India Radio (NewsOnAir), 17 April 2026; Dhaka Tribune, 28 April 2026
