Bangladesh Seeks IMF's Technical Support for Banking Sector Reforms: Salehuddin

Adviser to the interim government on the Ministries of Finance and Commerce Dr Salehuddin Ahmed today informed that the government has sought technical support from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to reform the country's financial sector and repatriate the money which has been laundered abroad. "The IMF provides us with major budget support. One mission of IMF has come. We discussed with them regarding support to reform the country's financial sector. We informed them, we already took measures to reform the banking and revenue sectors," he said.

The adviser said this while speaking to reporters after the opening meeting with the visiting IMF mission at the Ministry of Finance in the city. The delegation, led by IMF Mission Chief for Bangladesh Chris Papageorgiou, has commenced a weeklong visit to assess the country's macroeconomic situation and explore potential reforms with the provision of additional funding.

Salehuddin said it is essential to extract resources for taking steps of several reforms in economy. "We will utilize our local resources as much as possible, but for specific areas, we will require foreign assistance" he added.

The Finance Adviser also informed that Bangladesh will engage in further discussions with the IMF in October, where final decisions on support and policy directions will be made in consultation with the lending agency's policymakers. "We asked for new resources [loans], but did not mention any figure. We will meet the IMF policy makers in Washington in October," he said.