Bangladesh received $1.35 billion in the first quarter (Q1) of the current fiscal year from various donor countries and organizations, down 30.38 percent than the corresponding period last year.
Development partners disbursed $1.94 billion in loans and grants in the first quarter of the last fiscal year, according to the Economic Relations Department (ERD) data.
According to ERD data, the fiscal year 2022-23 began with a jump in foreign loan flows in continuation of the previous fiscal year.
In July, the first month of the new fiscal year, the country received nearly $490 million in foreign debt, which was 48.50 percent more than last July.
However, this flow was reduced in August to stand at 376.30 million, which was about 23 percent less than that of the previous month in July.
In September, the development partners disbursed $484.90 million.
According to ERD data, out of the $1.35 billion in loan assistance received from donors during the July-September period, about $1.30 billion was disbursed for different projects and the remaining $51.23 million in external grants.
$1.86 billion in loan agreements was received in the same period in the previous fiscal while the remaining $75.13 million was in grants.
Development partners and donor countries released more than $10 billion in loans and aid to Bangladesh in 2021-22, a record for a financial year in the country’s history.
Bangladesh brought in the funds for development projects which is 26 per cent more than the preceding fiscal year.
Dr Ahsan H Mansur, executive director at Policy Research Institute of Bangladesh (PRI), said, "Bangladesh's economy, like many countries in the world, is under a lot of pressure due to global reasons. More and more low-interest foreign loans were urgently needed to meet this pressure. But it has decreased.”
"If we get the IMF loan within two months, our crisis will be over. The trend of reserves reduction will no longer exist,” he mentioned.
He said the loan amount from the World Bank, ADB and other donor countries and organizations was more than expected to compensate the damage caused by the corona epidemic has been received, he said, adding that now no more covid loans are available. That is why, Bangladesh received lower foreign loans in the first quarter of the current fiscal year.
