Bangladesh is not in a crisis situation: IMF

Bangladesh is not in a crisis situation and its external position is "very different from several countries in the region," said Rahul Anand, division chief in the IMF's Asia and Pacific Department.

The IMF official briefed on the current economic situation of Bangladesh in support of his stand during an online conference on Tuesday (16 August).

He said Bangladesh's external debt is relatively low, close to 14% of GDP.

"Bangladesh has a low risk of debt distress and is very different from Sri Lanka," he added.

In refer to the Bangladesh government's loan appeal to IMF, Rahul Ananad said the request is "pre-emptive."

"The IMF stands ready to support Bangladesh, and the staff will engage with the authorities on program design as per the established policies and procedures of the Fund," an IMF spokesperson said following the request by the Bangladesh government.

As the country recently faced several rounds of currency devaluation in the wake of dwindling reserves, Rahul said the devaluation of taka is not comparable to what we have seen" in other countries.

Even though Bangladesh's reserves have come down, he said the stocks are still high enough to cover four to five months of prospective imports.