DHAKA -- Bangladesh's staff-level agreement with the International Monetary Fund for a $4.5 billion loan should give other development partners more confidence to extend assistance, analysts say, but the South Asian country still has plenty of work cut out for it.
After nervously watching its official foreign exchange reserves shrink to about $35.7 billion this month, from $48 billion in August 2021, Dhaka on Wednesday sealed a preliminary deal with the international lender of last resort. This made it the third South Asian country to turn to the IMF for help this year, after Sri Lanka and Pakistan.
