{"id":120115,"date":"2021-11-08T17:26:43","date_gmt":"2021-11-09T00:26:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=120115"},"modified":"2021-11-08T17:26:43","modified_gmt":"2021-11-09T00:26:43","slug":"bangladesh-is-now-a-lending-country-if-bangladesh-can-be-self-sufficient-lender-economic-miracle-in-south-asia-why-does-south-asia-not-take-lessons-from-bangladesh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2021\/11\/08\/bangladesh-is-now-a-lending-country-if-bangladesh-can-be-self-sufficient-lender-economic-miracle-in-south-asia-why-does-south-asia-not-take-lessons-from-bangladesh\/","title":{"rendered":"Bangladesh is now a lending country! If Bangladesh can be self-sufficient, lender, economic miracle in South Asia, why does South Asia not take lessons from Bangladesh?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hafizur Talukdar<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

Debt-ridden Bangladesh\na few years ago is now a country of unprecedented success in debt relief. The\nworld today looks at Bangladesh in amazement. Bangladesh only borrowed from\nother countries or organizations. Now that history has changed and started\ngiving loans. Bangladesh has given loans to Sri Lanka and Sudan. Bangladesh\ngave a loan to a country for the first time by giving the first installment of\nthe loan promised to Sri Lanka in August. Once upon a time it was a \u2018Bottomless\nBasket\u2019 and donation seeker in the international arena. Now it is a lending\ncountry. It shows the all-South Asian countries how to revive from ashes.\nBangladesh establishes an example in South Asia how to ensure economic growth\namidst various socio-political aspects. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Overcoming various\nadversities, Bangladesh today is a confident and promising country. Today,\nBangladesh has risen to the top of every index of the economy. When the ongoing\n10 mega projects are completed, the trend of economic growth of the country\nwill increase and prosperity will increase. It shows the all-South Asian\ncountries how to increase their growth amidst various adversities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The economy of the\nSouth Asian Island nation of Sri Lanka is under a lot of pressure at the moment\ndue to the wounds of the civil war and additional foreign loans for development\nprojects. At present, the country’s foreign exchange reserves have come down to\n4 billion. Meanwhile, in the midst of the epidemic, Bangladesh’s foreign\nexchange reserves have reached a milestone of over 45 billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Prime Minister of\nSri Lanka was accompanied by the Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka in\nDhaka last March to attend the birth centenary celebrations of Bangabandhu. At\nthat time, they made a proposal to the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in this\nregard. After the Prime Minister agreed to the proposal, the Sri Lankan\ngovernment sent a formal proposal to the Central Bank. Then in May, the Board\nof Directors of Bangladesh Bank approved in principle a loan of 250 million to\nSri Lanka under the currency swap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bangladesh Bank released\n50 million in the first installment on August 16 based on Sri Lanka’s demand.\nBangladesh entered the list of lender countries by waiving that loan. And on,\nthe second installment of 100 million was released in June, 2021. This money is\nbeing given from the foreign exchange reserve of Bangladesh Bank.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reserves are above 46\nbillion after a 100 million discount in favor of Sri Lanka in June. With the\ncurrent foreign exchange reserves of Bangladesh, it is possible to meet the\nimport cost for more than eight months. Bangladesh ranks second among South\nAsian countries in terms of foreign exchange reserves. Bangladesh is giving\ndollars in this way for the first time. The amount of dollars that Bangladesh\nwill give will be reduced from the reserve. This will make Bangladesh famous.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sri Lanka has been\nsuffering from a foreign exchange reserve crisis in recent times. At that time,\nthey had only 500 million in foreign exchange reserves. With this reserve, it\nwas not possible to meet their import expenses for three months. In order to\nkeep the reserves risk-free, at least three months of import expenditure has to\nbe kept equal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the first time in\n50 years of independence, Bangladesh gave a loan to a country for the\ndevelopment of the country or to meet various needs. Bangladesh made the list\nof lenders by lending 50 million to Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the last one decade,\nBangladesh has gained this ability to lend due to the huge economic development,\nincrease in exports and increase in expatriate income as the country’s foreign\nexchange reserves have swelled. Economists hope that this will change the image\nof the country. And Sri Lanka will be given a total of 250 million dollars.\nThis money will be released in 5 installments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sudan, an African\ncountry, is unable to repay a loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).\nBangladesh has taken the responsibility of repaying that loan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This information has\nbeen highlighted in a notification of the Ministry of Finance on June 16, 2021.\nEarlier, Bangladesh had given similar benefits to Somalia, another African\ncountry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sudan\u2019s  external debt skyrocketed to nearly $50 billion at the end\nof 2019. It is known that the\nIMF will get 6 billion US dollars from Sudan. In other words, 5 lakh 10\nthousand crore Takas in Bangladeshi currency. When the IMF called on all its\nmembers to stand by the country in repaying the debt, almost everyone\nresponded. As a friendly country, Bangladesh also agreed to cooperate with Sudan.\nIn response to the IMF’s call, Bangladesh on June 15, 2021 granted Sudan a loan\nwaiver of Tk 65 crore Taka (650 million dollars)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The next day, on\nWednesday, the finance ministry said in a statement that in response to the\nIMF’s call, Bangladesh had given Sudan a “debt waiver” of Tk 65\ncrore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Sudan is a very\nindebted and poor country,” the finance ministry said in a statement. The\ngovernment hopes the funding will strengthen Sudan’s fight against poverty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bangladesh has begun to\nprove its economic potential in a very dramatic way. At one time the country\nwas very poor. US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger therefore commented that\nBangladesh is a bottomless basket. After 46 years, the US media Bloomberg says,\nBangladesh is now an address of surprising success. The country’s per capita\nincome is now 2500 US\ndollars. It is ahead\nof India. At the moment, India’s per capita income is $2,116. Pakistan is far behind. The\ncountry’s per capita income is $1,260.\nAt present, Bangladesh has 45 billion in foreign exchange reserves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, what happened\nthat Bangladesh is creating one surprise after another? Economists say there\nare some reasons behind this. Exports, social progress and economic foresight.\nThere are three more reasons besides economic capability. Sympathy, economic\ndiplomacy and political will.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When this\nwas the case, the sudden news came that Bangladesh had provided 200 million in\nfinancial assistance to Sri Lanka. The Sri Lankan media has raised the\nquestion, if Bangladesh can be self-sufficient, why can’t we? In June, the\nfinance ministry of Bangladesh gave more startling news. It has been said that\nBangladesh stands by Sudan, the poorest country in Africa. 65 crores\nBangladeshi Taka has been provided to reduce the debt burden of the IMF. The\ncountry borrowed Rs 510,000 crore Taka from the IMF. The economic crisis was so\nsevere that the country could not repay the debt. Bangladesh has come forward\nafter sending messages asking for help from country to country. Bangladesh’s\nfinance ministry says Sudan is heavily indebted and poor. The government hopes\nthe funding will strengthen Sudan’s fight against poverty. At one time Sudan\nwas a British colony. The country gained independence on January 1, 1956 under\na treaty. It may be recalled that last year, Bangladesh also provided more than\nTk 80 million to Somalia, another African country. That was also in repaying\nthe IMF loan. Sudan, a member of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, or\nOIC, has been crippled by debt and poverty and the financial assistance is\nexpected to help overcome the crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last\nyear, Bangladesh also handed Tk 80 million to help Somalia combat poverty as\npart of the IMF initiative. Everyone is fascinated by the development of\nBangladesh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nimage of Bangladesh and the respect for people of this country has increased\ndue to the assistance to Sri Lanka and Sudan from foreign exchange reserves.\nNow the question is valid.\nBangladesh is now a lending country! If Bangladesh can be self-sufficient,\nlender, economic miracle in South Asia, why can’t others do that? Why does South Asia not take\nlessons from Bangladesh? Of course, South Asia can learn a lot from Bangladesh.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hafizur Talukdar Debt-ridden Bangladesh a few years ago is now a country of unprecedented success in debt relief. The world today looks at Bangladesh in amazement. Bangladesh only borrowed from other countries or organizations. Now that history has changed and started giving loans. Bangladesh has given loans to Sri Lanka and Sudan. Bangladesh gave a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[182],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-120115","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hafizur-talukdar"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120115","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=120115"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120115\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=120115"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=120115"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=120115"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}