There is no need for foreign loans at the moment: Finance Minister

News Desk: Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal said that the International Monetary Fund-IMF has not sent any proposal to take any money, there is no need for foreign loans at the moment.

He said, many of you may have doubts that we will take many things or make agreements. Nothing like this has come to us, you can actually know. We will not go into any project or funding that is against the interests of the people of our country. I can confirm that I will not do anything against the interests.

The Minister said these things in response to a question from journalists after the meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Government Economic and Procurement which was held virtually at noon on Wednesday (July 20).

Finance Minister said, IMF is coming to Bangladesh, it is a consultative committee. They advise, we advise them. They didn't tell us anything formal about what they were coming to us for.

Referring to the IMF's disagreement on Bangladesh's reserves, the minister said, the issue of reserves is the way different countries do, the way it is calculated - we have done it that way. We will calculate that way. Didn't they get the amount of money that IMF helped us with? They won't be able to say they paid their money a day later. So they will be assured (repaid on time) of the loans they give or will give us. We have also assured them time and time again that if they give us a loan, they will never have to forgive it. Our debt repayment capacity is good. We have always paid. We have never delayed payment.

IMF has offered a large amount of loan to the government, when asked whether to take such a loan or not, AHM Mustafa Kamal said, so far we have not received any formal proposal from the IMF. We have also not sent any proposal to the IMF to take any money. So you will know when they come. None of these are matters of ignorance. If we need a loan, we will take it. But we don't need any right now. If necessary, we will take it. I will take it in our interest. We will not do anything to undermine our own interests.

The finance minister also said that the IMF comes occasionally. Take care, give whatever advice they have. Their advice is useful for the government in many ways. There is always talk of some reform-oriented project. I have made many commitments in the budget, if they can be fulfilled, it is good for the country. We will certainly accept all these proposals.

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