Finance minister Abul Hasaan Mahmood Ali on Wednesday said that the government would clear arrears on power purchases from the Adani Group of India.
He made the statement after a team from Adani Group, led by Adani Enterprises Limited director Pranav Adani, arrived at his secretariat office to discuss trade and investment issues.聽聽聽
The finance minister, however, did not say when the arrear payment would be cleared amid the ongoing shortage of dollars that has been disrupting the country鈥檚 overall economic activities since April 2022.
On May 7, state minister for power Nasrul Hamid said in the parliament that the state-owned Power Development Board owed Tk聽5,297 crore to different Indian companies including Adani.聽聽聽
The PDB鈥檚 overall outstanding arrears stood at Tk聽33,108 crore to different power generation companies, both public and private, including Indian companies, against their sale of electricity until March.
The PDB has been purchasing power from the 1600-Megawatt coal-fired power plant built by the Adani Group in the Indian state of Jharkhand since 2023.
Reportedly, under a 25-year deal, the Adani Group is selling electricity to the PDB at a high price with a lucrative profit margin.
Pranav Adani said they discussed investment opportunities during the meeting with the finance minister.聽
鈥楤angladesh has lot of potentials,鈥� he said.
Beside power trades, Adani Group co-owns a leading edible oil processing company 鈥� Bangladesh Edible Oil Limited 鈥� with Singapore鈥檚 Wilmar International and market oil brands including Rupchanda, Fortune and Kings.
Adani Group has expressed interest in investing in ports, economic zones and renewable energy sector.
The finance minister said they welcomed investment plans by the Adani.
But the shortage of dollars put many foreign companies operating here in problems to repatriate their profits.聽聽聽聽聽聽
US state department assistant secretary for South and Central Asia Donald Lu in a recent visit inquired about the update on the dollar shortage.
He also inquired about when the US companies investing in Bangladesh could remit their profits at home.
The government is borrowing from the International Monetary Fund under a 4.7 billion loan programme to check depletion of forex reserves to $18 billion down from the $48 billion reserve in August 2021.
The IMF has already disbursed $1.1 billion while another $1.15 billion is expected to be released in the next month.