{"id":121589,"date":"2021-12-27T17:23:46","date_gmt":"2021-12-28T00:23:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=121589"},"modified":"2021-12-27T17:23:46","modified_gmt":"2021-12-28T00:23:46","slug":"bangladeshs-assistance-to-sri-lanka-increases-image-and-prestige-of-bangladesh-in-the-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2021\/12\/27\/bangladeshs-assistance-to-sri-lanka-increases-image-and-prestige-of-bangladesh-in-the-world\/","title":{"rendered":"Bangladesh’s Assistance To Sri Lanka Increases Image and Prestige Of Bangladesh In The World"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Debt-ridden Bangladesh a few\nyears ago is now a country of unprecedented success in debt relief. The world\ntoday looks at Bangladesh in amazement. Bangladesh only borrowed from other\ncountries or organizations. Now that history has changed and started giving\nloans. Bangladesh has given loans to Sri Lanka and Sudan. Bangladesh gave a\nloan to a country for the first time by giving the first installment of the\nloan 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 of how to ensure economic\ngrowth amidst 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 South Asian\nisland nation of Sri Lanka is under a lot of pressure at the moment due to the\nwounds of the civil war and additional foreign loans for development projects.\nAt present, the country’s foreign exchange reserves have come down to 4\nbillion. Meanwhile, in the midst of the epidemic, Bangladesh’s foreign exchange\nreserves have reached a milestone of over 45 billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Prime Minister of Sri\nLanka was accompanied by the Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka in Dhaka\nlast March to attend the birth centenary celebrations of Bangabandhu. At that\ntime, they made a proposal to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in this regard.\nAfter the Prime Minister agreed to the proposal, the Sri Lankan government sent\na formal proposal to the Central Bank. Then in May, the Board of Directors of\nBangladesh Bank approved in principle a loan of 250 million to Sri Lanka under\nthe currency swap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bangladesh Bank released 50\nmillion 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 billion\nafter a 100 million discount in favor of Sri Lanka in June. With the current\nforeign exchange reserves of Bangladesh, it is possible to meet the import cost\nfor more than eight months. Bangladesh ranks second among South Asian countries\nin terms of foreign exchange reserves. Bangladesh is giving dollars in this way\nfor the first time. The number of dollars that Bangladesh will give will be\nreduced from the reserve. This will make Bangladesh famous.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sri Lanka has been suffering\nfrom a foreign exchange reserve crisis in recent times. At that time, they had\nonly 500 million in foreign exchange reserves. With this reserve, it was not\npossible to meet their import expenses for three months. In order to keep the\nreserves risk-free, at least three months of import expenditure has to be kept\nequal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

In the last decade, Bangladesh\nhas gained this ability to lend due to the huge economic development, increase\nin exports and increase in expatriate income as the country’s foreign exchange\nreserves have swelled. Economists hope that this will change the image of the\ncountry. And Sri Lanka will be given a total of 250 million dollars. This money\nwill be released in 5 installments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sudan, an African country, is\nunable to repay a loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Bangladesh\nhas taken the responsibility of repaying that loan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This information has been\nhighlighted 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\nskyrocketed to nearly $50 billion at the end of 2019. It is known that the IMF\nwill get 6 billion US dollars from Sudan. In other words, 5 lakh 10 thousand\ncrore Takas in Bangladeshi currency. When the IMF called on all its members to\nstand by the country in repaying the debt, almost everyone responded. As a\nfriendly country, Bangladesh also agreed to cooperate with Sudan. In response\nto the IMF’s call, Bangladesh on June 15, 2021, granted Sudan a loan waiver of\nTk 65 crore Taka (650 million dollars)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The next day, on Wednesday,\nthe finance ministry said in a statement that in response to the IMF’s call,\nBangladesh had given Sudan a “debt waiver” of Tk 65 crore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Sudan is a very indebted\nand 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 prove\nits economic potential in a very dramatic way. At one time the country was very\npoor. 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 dollars. It is ahead of India. At the moment, India’s per\ncapita income is $2,116. Pakistan is far behind. The country’s per capita\nincome is $1,260. At present, Bangladesh has 45 billion in foreign exchange\nreserves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, what happened that\nBangladesh is creating one surprise after another? Economists say there are\nsome 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 was the case, the\nsudden news came that Bangladesh had provided 200 million in financial\nassistance to Sri Lanka. The Sri Lankan media has raised the question if\nBangladesh can be self-sufficient, why can’t we? In June, the finance ministry\nof Bangladesh gave more startling news. It has been said that Bangladesh stands\nby Sudan, the poorest country in Africa. 65 crores Bangladeshi Taka has been\nprovided to reduce the debt burden of the IMF. The country borrowed Rs 510,000\ncrore, Taka, from the IMF. The economic crisis was so severe that the country\ncould not repay the debt. Bangladesh has come forward after sending messages\nasking for help from country to country. Bangladesh’s finance ministry says\nSudan is heavily indebted and poor. The government hopes the funding will\nstrengthen Sudan’s fight against poverty. At one time Sudan was a British\ncolony. The country gained independence on January 1, 1956, under a treaty. It\nmay be recalled that last year, Bangladesh also provided more than Tk 80\nmillion to Somalia, another African country. That was also in repaying the IMF\nloan. Sudan, a member of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, or OIC, has\nbeen crippled by debt and poverty, and financial assistance is expected to help\novercome the crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last year, Bangladesh also\nhanded Tk 80 million to help Somalia combat poverty as part of the IMF\ninitiative. Everyone is fascinated by the development of Bangladesh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The image of Bangladesh and\nthe respect for the people of this country has increased due to the assistance\nto Sri Lanka and Sudan from foreign exchange reserves. Now the question is\nvalid. Bangladesh is now a lending country! If Bangladesh can be a\nself-sufficient, lender, economic miracle in South Asia, why can’t others do\nthat? Why does South Asia not take lessons from Bangladesh? Of course, South\nAsia can learn a lot from Bangladesh.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by 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 […]<\/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-121589","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\/121589","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=121589"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121589\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=121589"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=121589"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=121589"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}