Rejaul Karim Byron

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is likely to seek time-bound measures to resolve problems in vulnerable banks and set specific targets and deadlines for domestic revenue collection as conditions for a new loan programme, according to government officials.

Bangladesh has secured a $3.1 billion non-concessional loan to finance fuel oil and liquefied natural gas imports, as the government moves to safeguard energy supplies from disruption.

Talks with the International Monetary Fund on a new loan programme worth up to $5 billion are set to continue next week in Thailand on the sidelines of the 2026 annual meetings of the IMF and the World Bank.

Industrial production grew 6.52 percent in the April-June quarter, compared with just 0.92 percent in the same period a year earlier

Nearly 6.2 crore people in Bangladesh are currently living just one economic shock away from falling below the poverty line, the World Bank has warned, as persistently high inflation and severe energy shortages reverse years of hard-won economic gains.

Bangladesh needs urgent and bold reforms in the financial, energy and revenue sectors to arrest the economic slowdown, restore investor confidence and create jobs, said the World Bank yesterday.

Bangladesh is yet again set to register weak economic growth of 3.4 percent in the current fiscal year, according to the World Bank, marking a fourth straight year of slowing growth amid a deepening energy crisis, financial sector vulnerabilities and global uncertainties.

Escalating conflict in the Middle East has exacerbated pre-existing domestic vulnerabilities