Good morning. Here's what happened overnight and what you need to know today.
1.
IMF Paints Gloomy BD Economic Picture, Advises Urgent Cures: On a prolonged review of Bangladesh's economic fundamentals, the International Monetary Fund paints a gloomy picture and suggests large-scale urgent reforms for a turnaround with its extended fund support. Bangladesh will receive another much-sought-after dollop of US$645 million from the IMF's ongoing credit programme as the exhaustive review of the country's economic and financial situation ended with a staff-level agreement on the lending. The government-IMF consensus on the fourth tranche of the $4.7-billion lending package -- bound with strings that commit Bangladesh to carrying out comprehensive reforms -- was reached Wednesday. The funds will be disbursed following requisite approvals. (The Financial Express)
2.
Forex Market Gets Restive, Exchange Rate Overshoots Tk 126: Bangladesh's foreign-exchange market becomes extremely volatile suddenly with the exchange rate against the greenback overshooting the peg to Tk 126, worrying officials, bankers and businesses. The informal-market rate is far higher than the upper ceiling (Tk 120 a dollar) set in the central bank-introduced crawling-peg mechanism. To stop the baroque buck-up, Bangladesh Bank (BB) launched inspections Tuesday to find out factors behind the forex-market unrest before taking remedial measures, officials said. (The Financial Express)
3.
Beximco Lays Off 40,000 Workers at 15 Apparel Units: The Beximco Group has laid off nearly 40,000 workers across its 15 apparel units, citing a lack of work orders for its export-oriented garment and textile factories in Dhaka's outskirts of Gazipur. Company notifications issued on December 15 informed all officials, employees and workers that the factories would enforce layoffs from December 16. The notices said that laid-off workers were not required to report to the factories as all production activities would be suspended until a tentative reopening date of January 30, 2025. (The Daily Star)
4.
BB to Make Exchange Rate More Flexible: The exchange rate of the taka and the US dollar is going to be turned more flexible in line with suggestions of International Monetary Fund (IMF), according to Bangladesh Bank. Currently, there is a crawling peg exchange rate system in place and banks are allowed to buy and sell US dollars freely at a mid-range of Tk 117. The crawling peg is a system of exchange rate adjustments in which a currency with a fixed exchange rate is allowed to fluctuate within a band of rates. Introduced in May of this year, this new system is not fully based on the market. (The Daily Star)
5.
Islamic Trade Finance to Provide $2.45b Loan for Oil, Gas, Fertiliser Imports in FY26: The Islamic Trade Finance Corporation, a member of the Islamic Development Bank Group, will provide a $2.45 billion loan to Bangladesh in the 2025-26 fiscal year for importing petroleum, liquefied natural gas (LNG), and fertilisers. Of the total loan, $1.65 billion will go to the Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) for fuel imports, and $600 million to Petrobangla for LNG imports, according to sources at the Economic Relations Division. Besides, for the first time, the Bangladesh Agriculture Development Corporation will receive $200 million for fertiliser imports, with an option to request an additional $300 million if needed. (The Business Standard)
6.
Strategic Plan Afoot to Enhance Local Treatment to Curb Medical Tourism for Complex Diseases: The government is set to roll out strategic measures to enhance local treatment for complex diseases like cancer, heart disease, infertility, and kidney ailments, aiming to reduce the growing trend of Bangladeshi patients seeking care abroad. This includes a short- and medium-term national approach to fill the treatment gap in these four areas by enhancing the capacities of both public and non-profit private hospitals. The health ministry on 15 December convened a meeting with representatives of various private hospitals, medical experts, and top government officials, where the strategies were discussed. (The Business Standard)
----Saju Sarker
BBN/SSR/AD