Bangladesh is expecting around USD $4.5 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as a precautionary measure and stabilising foreign exchange reserves. In the wake of a record $30.86 billion trade deficit, remittance inflow falling by 15.12 per cent and current account deficit of $18.70 billion in the recently concluded 2021-22 fiscal, the country is trying to get an IMF loan while two other South Asian countries- Sri Lanka and Pakistan - are struggling for IMF loan to survive their economy. The two South Asian countries Sri Lanka and Pakistan’s economy are in danger, so they are trying to get IMF loans. The economy of Bangladesh is not in a disaster like them. Sri Lanka is bankrupt, and Pakistan is in dire economic straits. Still, many people ask why Bangladesh has to take an IMF loan. Bangladesh’s foreign loan burden increased to $93.23 billion till March 2022. The external loan jumped as the government took foreign loans to implement some mega projects. Read: Inflation hits record 8.9% in euro area, but economy grows Replying to a query planning minister MA Mannan said that Bangladesh so far has not defaulted on repayment of external loans. “In South-East Asia Bangladesh’s debt-GDP is around 41.4 percent of which foreign loans 21 per cent. Indian’s loans is 86.8 percent of GDP, Pakistan loans 74 per cent of GDP, Sri Lankan loans 107 percent of GDP and Thailand loans 62 percent of GDP,” he said. Bangladesh took loans for some mega projects including Padma Bridge rail link being aware of the returns of those projects. The Padma Bridge authority is collecting toll more than they imagined earlier, which is an example of returns, Mannan said. Regarding IMF loans, he said that Bangladesh sought IMF loans as a precautionary step to keep the economy stable and capable of meeting oil, gas and fertiliser import payments. He said the current foreign exchange reserve is not in danger and there is no possibility of a crisis here like Sri Lanka. But pressure has been created in the economy due to the global price hike of commodities and energy due to the Ukraine-Russia war.