IMF okays $682m 2nd tranche of loan for Bangladesh

The International Monetary Fund board has approved the second instalment of $681 million for Bangladesh.

Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal confirmed the news to media outlets on Tuesday.

He said that the approval came at the multilateral lender's board meeting.

According to Gazi Touhidul Islam, information officer of the finance ministry, officials of the Bangladesh Bank and finance ministry expect the second instalment to be available on Wednesday.

The $681 million will be disbursed soon and is expected to cover import bills of about 15 days.

One of the unmet preconditions was to maintain a minimum net international reserve (NIR) of $24.46 billion by the end of June.

The NIR target was missed by about $3 billion as the government had to delve into reserves to pay for essential imports of fuel, fertiliser, and foodstuff.