Page 14 - International Monetary Fund

IMF reaches staff-level agreement with Bangladesh for $4.5 billion

Officials said IMF funds will be divided between the Extended Credit Facility (ECF), the Extended Fund Facility (EFF), and the Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF)

IMF to provide $4.5 bn loan for Bangladesh to combat economic crisis

Bangladesh and the IMF on Wednesday reached a preliminary agreement under which the global lender will provide a USD 4.5 billion support package to stabilise its economy and protect the vulnerable people. The IMF agreement came months after discussions between the global lender and Bangladesh officials. Bangladesh is the third South Asian nation after Sri Lanka and Pakistan to secure a bailout package from the IMF to tide over the sharp rise in food and energy prices caused by the coronavirus pandemic and the global inflation due to the Russia-Ukraine war. The amount will be disbursed in seven installments till December 2026. The first installment of USD 447.48 million will be cleared in February next year, while the loan's interest rate would depend on the market rate at the time of maturity, Finance Minister A H M Mustafa Kamal told a news briefing after the signing of the agreement in Dhaka. Finance ministry officials calculated the interest rate to be around 2.2 per cent. "We

Managing growth expectations

In a highly uncertain global economic environment, realistic growth projections would reduce risks

'Price rise may be persistent as it has moved into core inflation in Asia'

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) recently released a regional economic outlook (REO) on Asia and Pacific, in which it cut the growth projections for the region

Services PMI recovers to 55.1 in Oct after hitting six-month low in Sept

Services PMI released by credit rating agency S&P Global improved to 55.1 in October from 54.3 in September

Growth in Asia-Pacific region to slow down in 2022, 2023, says IMF

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said in a report released on Friday that economic growth in the Asia and Pacific region is expected to slow down in 2022 and 2023

Statsguru: Six charts explain IMF's warning on the global economy

The cost of borrowing is going up for emerging markets and budget constraints are increasingly making their effects felt

Debt restructuring talks underway with IMF, India, China: Sri Lanka Prez

Sri Lanka has started debt restructuring talks with the IMF, India and China, President Ranil Wickremesinghe said on Sunday, exuding confidence that if the discussions move forward in a systematic way, the country would tide over its worst economic crisis. Addressing a gathering in the Siyambalanduwa district, Wickremesinghe said talks have also started with private creditors on debt restructuring. For the first time yesterday, we began talks with the IMF, China, Japan and India on lessening our debt burden, he said. It will be difficult for us to pay back debt, still we have to find ways to lessen our debt burden. We are faced with a situation where we are unable to meet interest payments. But I'm hopeful that if our talks could be carried forward in a systematic way, we would be able to solve our problems, he said. The president said he spoke to the Chinese finance minister while Sri Lanka's finance minister Shehan Semasinghe on Saturday started talks with India on debt ...

Buckle up, and keep going, says IMF chief as outlook for world economy dims

Here is a rundown of the key takeaways from the annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund hosted IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva

IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva warns of risk of geopolitical fragmentation

There is a risk of geopolitical fragmentation, as geopolitics turn into geo-economics with negative impacts, warns IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva

India has been a leader in digitalisation over last few years: IMF official

India has been a leader in digitalisation over the last few years and has overcome some of the administrative bottlenecks through increased innovation, a senior International Monetary Fund official said. Digitalisation has taken on added importance as the world exits the COVID-19 pandemic, Anner-Marie Gulde-Wolfe, deputy director at the IMF's Asia Pacific Department, told reporters at a news conference here on Friday. "As is well known by now, India has been a leader in digitalisation over the last couple of years, particularly with the provision of digital infrastructure... this has increased innovation and it has overcome some of the administrative bottlenecks that there were before," she said. "Under Covid, there has been significant scarring in Asia and elsewhere and digitalisation promises to be one of the avenues to increase productivity of firms," she said in response to a question. "We do have some empirical evidence for that. Our forthcoming Regional Economic Outlook will

India among very few standout performers in a world of uncertainties: FM

In a world of uncertainties, India is one of the very few standout performers, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Friday, a day after the International Monetary Fund described the country as a bright spot in a global economy which is facing an imminent recession. Sitharaman was addressing the International Monetary Finance Committee during the ongoing annual meeting of the World Bank and the IMF. "In a world of uncertainties, India is one of the very few standout performers," the minister said. She said India's National Statistical Organisation (NSO) has now placed the GDP growth for Q1 of the current financial year 2022-23 at 13.5 per cent on a year-on-year basis the highest among the large economies. Sitharaman said this was achieved despite the fact that India started the monetary normalisation process quite early: surplus liquidity is being absorbed with the Standing Deposit Facility instituted in April 2022 and interest rate hikes from May this year. The centr

Inflation will not come below RBI's tolerance level in FY23: IMF's Choueiri

India relative bright spot in the world; 6.8 per cent growth rate 'really a good number': Senior executive

Through a 40-year prism: India's record creditable, but not outstanding

India's share of world GDP, after shrinking in the 1981-91 decade from 1.7% to 1.1%, rose to 2.5% by 2011, and then to 3.3% in 2021, with still higher shares to come, writes T N Ninan

Use dollar-denominated forex reserves wisely, IMF urges emerging economies

Asks these economies to reinstate swap lines with advanced economy central banks

UK PM Liz Truss sacks finance minister Kwarteng: Here is what happened

Kwarteng recently said that he was 'absolutely, 100 per cent' confident that he would be in post in November despite rising rebellion

IMF mission expected to visit flood-hit Pakistan next month: Official

An IMF team is expected to visit Pakistan early in November to start the next review of the country's current economic programme, a senior official of the global lending body has said. In its last review in August, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved the 7th and 8th tranches of USD 1.17 billion, of its USD 7 billion Pakistan programme which was signed in 2019. The global lender said that it would send a mission in November to Pakistan after the annual meetings as part of preparations for the next review, IMF's Director of the Middle East and Central Asia, Jihad Azour was quoted by Dawn newspaper on Thursday. At a media briefing in Washington, Azour extended support to the flood-hit country. We accelerated some of our disbursements to help Pakistan deal with recent shocks, such as the increase in prices of foods and commodities, he said. Hopefully, we will be fielding a mission in November, after the annual meetings, to Pakistan to start the process for the next review,"

Asia now world's largest debtor and saver; high risk of debt distress: IMF

Asia's economies will need to focus on fiscal stability in order to offset surging debt and to support monetary policy, the International Monetary Fund has warned.

Act now to bring down inflation, safeguard financial stability: IMF Chief

The International Monetary Fund on Thursday urged policy makers across the world to act now to bring down inflation, put in place responsible fiscal policy, safeguard financial stability and carry reforms to address climate change, make digitalisation work for people and address inequality. Speaking to reporters at a press conference here, IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said, "The IMF is working with our 190 members on these issues. Our economic analysis is front and centre to help countries navigate this complex environment and avoid policy mistakes. Describing it as a difficult global environment, Georgieva said the world economy has been hit by one shock after another the coronavirus pandemic, Russia's invasion of Ukraine and climate disasters on every continent. They continue to harm people's lives and they have caused a cost-of-living crisis, she noted. The immediate toll is clear. On Tuesday, we cut our global growth forecast to 2.7 per cent in 2023. Across many .

Transition Bonds poised to hit $1.5 trillion: Climate Bonds Initiative

The market for these new securities is set to hit $1.5 trillion by the end of the decade, up from just $12 billion, according to the Climate Bonds Initiative, the world's No. 1 certifier of green debt