{"id":54155,"date":"2025-10-01T12:51:12","date_gmt":"2025-10-01T12:51:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/54155\/"},"modified":"2025-10-01T12:51:12","modified_gmt":"2025-10-01T12:51:12","slug":"what-does-imf-ceiling-on-borrowing-mean-for-bangladesh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/54155\/","title":{"rendered":"What does IMF ceiling on borrowing mean for Bangladesh?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Borrowing by state-owned enterprises will also face tighter scrutiny, as public guarantees can no longer be assumed as automatic <\/p>\n

\n TBS Report\n <\/p>\n

\n 30 September, 2025, 02:15 pm <\/p>\n

\n Last modified: 30 September, 2025, 02:28 pm <\/p>\n

\n The International Monetary Fund (IMF) logo is seen outside the headquarters building in Washington, US, September 4, 2018. REUTERS\/Yuri Gripas\/File Photo<\/p>\n

“> <\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

\n The International Monetary Fund (IMF) logo is seen outside the headquarters building in Washington, US, September 4, 2018. REUTERS\/Yuri Gripas\/File Photo <\/p>\n

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has imposed a quantitative ceiling on Bangladesh’s foreign loan intake at $8.44 billion for FY26, but what does this mean for the country?<\/p>\n

According to economist Zahid Hussain, the restriction signals a turning point that forces Bangladesh to rethink its approach to foreign loans.<\/p>\n

The economist believes the ceiling compels the government to systematically evaluate and prioritise its loan pipeline, which exceeds $42 billion.<\/p>\n


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Ministries, he said, will now need to focus on projects that either generate foreign exchange or hold strategic value.<\/p>\n

Borrowing by state-owned enterprises will also face tighter scrutiny, as public guarantees can no longer be assumed as automatic.<\/p>\n

According to Zahid, this new reality demands more careful assessments of repayment capacity and foreign exchange risks before seeking or approving loans.<\/p>\n

Without such discipline, he warned, Bangladesh risks undermining its long-term financial stability.<\/p>\n

The economist further noted that the ceiling may encourage a shift towards domestic borrowing tools such as treasury bills, Sukuk, and local bonds.<\/p>\n

However, these options are not without drawbacks. Increased reliance on domestic financing, he said, could raise inflationary pressures and crowd out private investment if not managed properly.<\/p>\n

Zahid suggested that rather than treating the IMF ceiling as a bureaucratic barrier, Bangladesh should approach it as a strategic safeguard.<\/p>\n

In his view, the restriction could serve as a catalyst for stronger fiscal and institutional discipline, ultimately steering the country towards more sustainable borrowing practices.<\/p>\n

He stressed that the real change lies in moving away from an obsession with the volume of borrowing.<\/p>\n

He noted that the focus should not be on how much Bangladesh can borrow, but on how wisely it can borrow.<\/p>\n

For Zahid, this marks a critical shift in perspective. By treating the ceiling as an opportunity to reassess priorities, Bangladesh can begin transforming its external borrowing from a measure of size to one of quality and prudence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Borrowing by state-owned enterprises will also face tighter scrutiny, as public guarantees can no longer be assumed as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":54156,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[138,219,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-54155","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-business","tag-economy","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54155","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54155"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54155\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54156"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54155"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54155"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54155"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}