Bangladesh has asked to start talks on a loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) but will take it only if conditions are favourable, the finance minister said on Wednesday, adding its macroeconomic conditions were fine.
The country’s $416 billion economy has been one of the fastest-growing in the world for years, but rising energy and food prices because of the Russia-Ukraine war have inflated its import bill and the current account deficit.
“A letter was sent to the IMF seeking assistance, but we have not mentioned how much we want,” Minister A.H.M. Mustafa Kamal told reporters.
“We are waiting to see their conditions. If the IMF conditions are in favour of the country and compatible with our development policy, we’ll go for it, otherwise not. Seeking a loan from the IMF does not mean Bangladesh’s economy is in bad shape.”
A senior IMF official had told Reuters on Tuesday that Bangladesh had asked it to start talks on a new loan under the global creditor’s Resilience and Sustainability Trust. Such funds are capped at 150 per cent of a country’s quota or, in Bangladesh’s case, a maximum of $1 billion.
Bangladesh’s Daily Star newspaper reported on Tuesday that the country wanted $4.5bn from the IMF.
Bangladesh’s economic mainstay is its export-oriented garments industry, which could suffer if sales fall in its main markets in Europe and the United States because of a slowdown in the global economy.
After garments, remittances are the second highest source of foreign currency for Bangladesh.
The South Asian country’s foreign exchange reserves fell to $39.67bn as of July 20 — sufficient for just over five months worth of imports — from $45.5bn a year earlier.
Its July to May current account deficit was $17.2bn, compared with a deficit of $2.78bn in the year-earlier period, as its trade deficit widened and remittances fell.
Sri Lanka and Pakistan are the other two South Asian countries to have sought IMF support this year.
The family of slain Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh has pressed the United States for an independent probe and accountability from Israel on a visit to Washington at the invitation of Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
"For far too long, the United States has enabled Israel to kill with impunity by providing weapons, immunity, and diplomatic cover," Shireen's brother Tony Abu Akleh and her niece and nephew said in a statement on Tuesday.
"Impunity leads to repetition. We are here to do our part to ensure that this cycle ends," they said.
"If we allow Shireen's killing to be swept under the rug, we send a message that the lives of US citizens abroad don't matter, that the lives of Palestinians living under Israeli occupation don't matter, and that the most courageous journalists in the world, those who cover the human impact of armed conflict and violence, are expendable."
READ MORE: How Shireen Abu Akleh inspired a generation of female reporters
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hB0qwbo8e8M[/embed]
Criticising Israel for using force
Shireen Abu Akleh, an Al Jazeera journalist and a prominent Palestinian reporter, was killed on May 11 as she covered an Israeli operation in the occupied West Bank.
The United States on July 4 released a statement saying she was likely shot by Israeli fire but that there was no evidence her killing was intentional and that the bullet was too damaged for a conclusive finding.
The statement outraged Abu Akleh's family and Palestinian leaders who say that the United States is not seeking accountability from Israel over the death of the journalist, who also held US citizenship.
Israel says it is still probing her death and rejects suggestions it targeted a journalist.
Abu Akleh's family unsuccessfully sought to meet President Joe Biden when he visited Israel and the occupied West Bank earlier this month.
Blinken, however, invited the family to visit Washington, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said during the trip.
Blinken had spoken earlier to her family by phone and publicly criticised Israel for using force at her funeral, when police grabbed Palestinian flags and pallbearers struggled not to drop her casket.
READ MORE: Relatives of Abu Akleh reject Israeli probe into funeral violence
Source: AFP
