Bangladesh is not in a critical situation and is in a “quite different position compared to other countries in the region” when it comes to external debt, said Rahul Anand, Division Chief of the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) Asia and Pacific Department.
In an online meeting on Tuesday (16 August), the IMF official expressed his stance on the ongoing economic situation in Bangladesh.
He said that Bangladesh’s foreign debt is relatively small, which is 14% of GDP. The risk of Bangladesh going into debt default is low. Its situation is quite different from Sri Lanka.
Bangladesh has recently experienced a series of currency devaluations since the reserve began to dwindle. Rahul’s comment on this was that the devaluation of the currency ‘is not comparable to the situation they see in other countries’.
Rahul said that even if Bangladesh’s reserves decrease, the country’s import expenses for four to five months can be met with the current money.
