BANGLADESH INSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL AND STRATEGIC STUDIES

PRGF PROGRAMMEIN BANGLADESH: AN ASSESSMENT

Author: Md. Badrul Hasan

DOI Link: https://www.doi.org/10.56888/BIISSj2008v29n1a5

ABSTRACT

Bangladesh, with its low per capita income, has been receiving concessional lending under the Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PRGF)programmeof the International Monetary Fund (IMF)since 2003. Based on Special Drawing Rights (SDR), the total amount of approved loans isUS$ 347 million that has been already disbursed in different rate ofquota. The loans have been a significant source of foreign exchange reserve as well assupportive to the programmes of economic reforms in Bangladesh. As a result, macroeconomic performance of the recipient country has been moving ahead. This, in turn, has contributedto overall economic aspects of Bangladesh. At the same time, some economic factors of Bangladesh, such as, inflation, trade, domestic currency, etc., have been adversely influenced by the loans. A set of conditions associated with the loans are likely to gradually influence Bangladesh’s fiscal and monetary policy, tax and trade policy, governance, etc.Against this backdrop, the focus of the present paper is to critically analyse the significant contributions to and the challenges for Bangladesh economy with the concessional lending of the PRGF programme by the IMF.