IMF chief lauds the leadership of Hasina

IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva has lauded the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

“Bangladesh is a role model in the world [in terms of its overall development] which makes its economy stable even after the coronavirus pandemic,” the IMF chief said while paying a courtesy call on Hasina at The Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Washington DC on Saturday.

Georgieva was leading an IMF delegation at the meeting, Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen told reporters at a press briefing.

Hasina is now on an official visit to the US mainly to attend the celebration of Bangladesh’s 50 years of partnership with the World Bank scheduled for today.

Momen said the IMF chief highly praised the unprecedented advancement of Bangladesh in various sectors under the dynamic leadership of Hasina that has made country’s economy stable after the pandemic.

The IMF chief said leadership like that of the Bangladesh prime minister is necessary to go ahead with prosperity confronting all hurdles, according to Momen.

Georgieva said Bangladesh has achieved the remarkable progress due to massive infrastructure development, widespread connectivity and maintenance of law and order.

She also hailed Bangladesh’s success in maintaining macro-economic stability.

Momen said Hasina briefed the global lender chief of her government’s initiatives to maintain the pace of overall development of her country.

The PM said Bangladesh has taken the $4.7 billion loan from the the International Monetary Fund  as a “breathing space”.

“The development of the country didn’t come overnight; it has rather been the result of longtime planning.”

The PM said she planned how she wanted to develop Bangladesh when she was in jail (for about 11 months from July 16, 2007) and started working with the plan after assuming power for the second time in 2009.

Bangladesh Bank Governor Abdur Rouf Talukder separately told reporters that the IMF always stood by Bangladesh over the last 14 years to maintain stability in the macro economy.

He said Bangladesh is currently engaged with a programme of $4.7 billion with the IMF that Bangladesh got only after two weeks of negotiations despite the fact many countries fail to get loans after years of negotiations.

“The IMF will continue such cooperation in future,” he said, quoting the global lender chief.

The BB governor said the PM hailed the IMF role in the journey of Bangladesh’s development.

Under a programme approved in January this year, Bangladesh will get the $4.7 billion loan in seven instalments over the next 42 months. The average interest on the loan will be 2.2 percent.

Bangladesh has already received the first tranche of $476.2 million of the IMF loan.