‘Bangladesh to receive $3.6b budget support from development partners by June’

Finance Adviser Dr Salehuddin Ahmed has expressed his hope that Bangladesh will receive additional budget support of about US$ 3.6 billion from various development partners by June (FY 2024-25).

"It may be noted here that we expect to receive additional budget support of about US$ 3.6 billion from various development partners by June of the current fiscal year," he said while presenting the proposed national budget for FY26 through a pre-recorded speech aired through Bangladesh Television and Bangladesh Betar on Monday.

Salehuddin said the current account balance has improved as exports continue to grow more than imports.

"In the July-March period of the current fiscal year, export earnings increased by 9.45 per cent compared to the same period of the previous fiscal year. On the other hand, imports increased by 5.57 per cent," he added.

As a result, the current account deficit narrowed to US$ 0.66 billion at the end of March 2025 from US$ 4.4 billion at the end of the same period in 2024, he continued.

The adviser, however, said due to the continuation of the government's austerity policy, the pace of development projects has slowed down somewhat and as a result, the promised foreign loan disbursement for the projects is slow.

In the July-March period of the current fiscal year, he said the amount of medium and long-term loan disbursement from foreign sources decreased by 19 per cent to US$ 4.48 billion compared to the same period of the previous year.

“If we can bring down inflation to the desired level, the pace of development projects will increase again,” he added.