International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva on Tuesday pledged support to Bangladesh’s reform initiatives, saying the Washington-based lender has sent a team in Dhaka to hold talks with the stakeholders over the matter.
“The IMF remains fully committed to Bangladesh and will continue to help advance the reform agenda for sustainable and equitable growth,” she said during a meeting with Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus on the sidelines of the annual UN General Assembly at the UN headquarters.
The IMF chief applauded Prof Yunus’ work to uplift the lives of the people of Bangladesh.
“It is a different country. It is Bangladesh 2.0,” Kristalina Georgieva told the chief adviser when Prof Yunus gave a short briefing on the student-led mass uprising, which ousted the previous autocratic regime.
Prof Yunus spoke about the six commissions that the interim government has set up to recommend vital reforms in election, civil administration, police, judiciary, anti-corruption and constitution.
He said the government would hold discussions with the political parties on the recommendations of the commissions, according to the chief adviser’s press wing.
Once the consensus on the reforms is reached and the voter list is prepared, the date for the vote will be announced, he said.
The IMF chief executive extended her support for the initiatives. She said the lender would fast-track financial support for the government.
She said she had sent an IMF team “quickly” to Bangladesh and it is now in Dhaka at the moment. The team would place its report to the IMF management board next month.
Georgieva said the IMF board could initiate a new lending programme for Bangladesh based on the report of the team or it could also extend more lending under the existing support programme launched early last year.
Energy, Power and Transport Adviser Fouzul Kabir Khan and eminent economist Dr. Debapriya Bhattacharya attended the meeting.
Adviser Fouzul Kabir Khan told the IMF chief that the interim government took just a week to “dismantle the architecture of crimes” in the power and energy sector.
Dr Debapriya stressed the need for IMF support to bolster the country’s balance of payment. He said the role of IMF would be critical in stabilising exchange rates.
