Finance, commerce, and science and technology adviser Salehuddin Ahmed on Tuesday said that the government was yet to decide how much fresh loan would be sought to the International Monetary Fund.
鈥榃e are a still assessing the amount before finally making a formal request to the IMF,鈥� said the adviser after a meeting with the visiting IMF mission led by Chris Papageorgiou at the secretariat.
He said that the amount of fresh loan from the IMF would depend on the availability of foreign resources from other multilateral lenders.
The interim government is already discussing with the multilateral lenders to avoid duplications, he added.
The finance adviser said the fresh loan would be utilised to carry out reform in the banking and the revenue sectors, checking money laundering and repatriation of stolen money.
The finance adviser鈥檚 observation came almost a month after Bangladesh Bank governor Ahsan H Mansur told Bloomberg, an overseas news agency, that they had sought $3 billion as fresh loan from the IMF.
Not only determining the future prorgarmme under the proposed fresh loan, the IMF mission will also assess the current $4.7 billion loan progarmme taken by the Hasina regime ousted in a student-led mass uprising.
The IMF has already disbursed around $2.3 billion since 2023.
During its weeklong visit, the IMF officials will hold a series of meetings with officials of the finance ministry, Bangladesh Bank and the National Board of Revenue.
On Tuesday afternoon, the IMF officials held a meeting with the finance division officials, said the finance ministry officials.
The IMF officials inquired about the update on the subsidy allotted in the current national budget.
The finance ministry officials have already calculated the power subsidy at Tk聽35,000 crore in FY25 because of overcapacity in generation of electricity by around 50 per cent.
Besides, pressure on subsidies will persist because the outstanding arrears are set to cross Tk聽45,000 crore despite payment of around Tk聽35,000 crore in FY24 and Tk聽17,000 crore in FY23.
IMF has been insisting on price hike of power to reduce subsidy under the national budget.
The visiting IMF officials also had a meeting with the treasury wing under the finance division to take notes of the overall debt in public sector.
On August 7, the IMF said that it would continue its ongoing $4.7 billion loan programme in Bangladesh despite the government change.
The IMF was deeply saddened by the loss of lives and injuries in the countrywide student protests.
The IMF, however, pledged to continue supporting the efforts to ensure economic stability and deliver inclusive growth.
The delivery of next tranche under the $4.7 package is due in November this year.