Aug 3 (Reuters) – Bangladesh is seeking $2 billion from the World Bank and Asian Development Bank (ADB) amid efforts to shore up its foreign exchange reserves, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday.
Bangladesh’s $416 billion economy has been one of the fastest growing in the world for years, but rising energy and food prices due to the war between Russia and Ukraine have inflated its import bill and current account deficit.
The government wrote letters to the two lenders asking for $1 billion each, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter. (https://bloom.bg/3oQEyPO)
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This comes days after Bangladesh’s Daily Star newspaper reported that the country wanted $4.5 billion from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), including for budget and balance of payments support. Read more
Last week, the IMF said it would discuss its loan request with Bangladesh. Read more
The country’s finance ministry, the World Bank and the ADB did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.
Bangladesh’s July-May current account deficit was $17.2 billion, compared with a deficit of $2.78 billion in the year-ago period, according to central bank data, as its trade deficit widened and remittances fell.
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Reporting by Gokul Pisharody in Bangalore; Editing by Kim Coghill
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