Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Saturday (April 29, 2023) said that Bangladesh has taken a loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as a "breathing space". The Prime Minister said this while an IMF delegation led by its Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva paid a courtesy call on her at the meeting room of The Ritz-Carlton hotel here. The IMF in January this year approved a loan of USD 4.7 billion for Bangladesh. Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen briefed reporters after the meeting. Also Read: PM Hasina arrives in Washington DC He said that the IMF MD highly praised the unprecedented advancement of Bangladesh in various sectors under the dynamic leadership of Sheikh Hasina which made the Bangladesh economy stable after the Covid-19 pandemic. The IMF chief also said leadership like the Bangladesh PM is necessary to take countries towards prosperity, confronting all hurdles, Momen told reporters. She said that Bangladesh has achieved remarkable progress due to massive infrastructure development, ensuring connectivity, and maintaining law and order. Bangladesh's Prime Minister briefed the IMF chief of her government’s initiatives to ensure the overall development of her country. Also Read: Extend more support for Rohingya: PM Hasina urges int’l community "The development of the country didn’t happen in a day, rather it’s the result of longtime planning and work," the PM was quoted as saying. She said that she prepared the plan on how she wanted to develop Bangladesh while she was in jail after a military-backed caretaker government assumed power in the political changeover of 2007, and started working with the plan after assuming power for the second time in 2009. Sheikh Hasina also mentioned various steps of the government to fight the adverse impacts of climate change and to ensure women’s empowerment.  Bangladesh Bank Governor Abdur Rouf Talukder said the IMF has always stood by Bangladesh over the last 14 years to maintain stability in the macro economy. Read More: Bangladesh likely to get back the money borrowed by Sri Lanka: FM He said that Bangladesh is currently engaged in a programme of USD 4.7 billion with IMF which the country got after only two weeks’ negotiation despite the fact that many countries cannot avail loan after negotiation for years. "The IMF will continue such cooperation in the future," Rouf said, quoting the IMF chief. He said that the Prime Minister hailed the role of IMF in the journey of Bangladesh's development and wished for continued support in future. Senior Secretary of Finance Division Fatima Yasmin and Economic Relations Division Secretary Sharifa Khan were present during the briefing. Read More: IMF loan program can be touchstone of financial sector reforms According to a statement of IMF in January, Bangladesh will get this $4.7 billion loan in seven installments over the next 42 months. The average interest on the loan will be 2.2 percent. Of the total amount, $3.3 billion will be available from the IMF’s ‘Enhanced Credit Support’ while $1.4 billion will come under the ‘Resilience and Sensibility Facility’. The IMF had said that the loan will help stabilise Bangladesh's macroeconomy, implement necessary reforms to build capacity for social and development spending, strengthen the financial sector, modernise policy frameworks and address climate change. The lending agency said that Bangladesh’s robust economic recovery from the pandemic has been interrupted by Russia’s war in Ukraine, leading to a sharp widening of Bangladesh’s current account deficit, depreciation of the taka and a decline in foreign exchange reserves. Read More: IMF-Bangladesh Bank meeting prioritizes unified exchange rate and competitive lending rate It further said that the authorities have taken on a comprehensive set of measures to deal with these latest economic disruptions. The authorities recognise that in addition to tackling these immediate challenges, long-standing structural issues and vulnerabilities related to climate change will also need to be addressed to accelerate growth, attract private investment, enhance productivity, and build climate resilience, the IMF statement clarified.

The days of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) regularly downgrading global economic growth are almost over, according to Kristalina Georgieva, the organization’s managing director. At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, the IMF chief told CNBC on Tuesday (January 17, 2023), “I don’t see a downgrade now, but growth in 2023 will slow down.” “The good news though is that we expect growth to bottom out this year and 2024 to be a year in which we finally see the world economy on an upside,” she said. Read: Economic woes, war, climate change on tap for Davos meeting Since October 2021, the IMF has revised its growth projection three times. Georgieva told CNBC that although inflation is dropping, it is “still quite high,” and that we are “not quite there yet” in terms of central banks possibly lowering interest rates. She added that central banks must be careful “not to remove their foot off the brake too early”. The US inflation rate plummeted last week to its lowest level since October 2021, while inflation in the euro zone fell in December for a second consecutive month. Read: Europe’s inflation slows again but cost of living still high Georgieva also spoke on China, reiterating IMF predictions that the country’s GDP will expand but that it won’t contribute as much to global growth as in the past. China will achieve the IMF’s projected growth of 4.4 percent by the end of the year if it continues with its present Covid-19 reform plan, she said.

Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Kristalina Georgieva has moved with unprecedented speed—providing emergency financing to 72 countries in four months—and will continue to support its member countries relentlessly. 

Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), on Wednesday announced her intention to appoint Alfred Kammer as Director of the European Department. 

The newly signed China-U.S. phase-one trade deal will reduce the uncertainty that has impeded global economic growth, International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said Friday.