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net programmes, warning that without proper coordination, increased spending may not yield the intended results. “The IMF has raised questions over how the government’s electoral promises and safety net programmes will be implemented,” one of the officials said.

Bangladesh is currently under a $4.7 billion IMF loan programme agreed in 2023, which was later expanded to $5.5 billion. Persistent gaps in the country’s performance against IMF benchmarks could complicate the upcoming review and delay the release of the next tranche. By June last year, however, Bangladesh had received $3.65 billion in five instalments.

Finance Minister Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury held two meetings on the sidelines of the IMF-World Bank Spring Meetings in Washington on Thursday -- one with Nigel Clarke, the IMF’s deputy managing director, and another with Krishna Srinivasan, director of its Asia-Pacific department.

Speaking to reporters after the meetings, Chowdhury acknowledged that differences remain. “There are some unresolved issues with the IMF. We will try to resolve them through discussions over the next 15 to 20 days,” he said. “Discussions will continue. We will try to find solutions,” he added, without specifying the unresolved issues.

The finance minister sought to cast the broader relationship in positive terms, saying development partners, including the IMF, were broadly aligned with the BNP’s manifesto. “What is being discussed is the approach -- how we implement it,” he said.

Beyond social spending, disagreements have also emerged over revenue mobilisation and the pace of financial and banking sector reforms. The IMF is pushing for a more market-determined exchange rate -- a longstanding demand that Dhaka has only partially addressed.

It has also called for concrete measures to raise tax revenue by 0.5 percentage points of GDP and voiced concern about the speed and sequencing of financial sector reforms.

Chowdhury pushed back on the timeline, citing the exceptional circumstances facing the new administration. Returning to power after 17 years, the government inherited a severe energy crisis, compounded by the Iran war, he said at the meetings. Implementing sweeping reforms within two months of taking office, he argued, was unrealistic, according to the officials.

“Revenue cannot be raised abruptly,” one official quoted the minister as saying. He maintained that the pace and sequencing of reforms must reflect domestic political and economic realities, rather than an externally imposed timeline.

When asked about the IMF’s concerns over [how the government plans to implement its electoral commitments], Golam Mortoza, press minister at the Bangladesh Embassy in Washington, said: “Public interest, linked to the most important electoral promises, is at the heart of the government’s governing philosophy.”

“The government is unyielding on these matters. The finance minister has firmly presented that position before both the IMF and the World Bank -- the government will not rush,” Mortoza told The Daily Star.

In a statement, the Bangladesh Embassy in Washington said the IMF had reaffirmed its role as a development partner and expressed its willingness to continue working with the elected government. Both sides agreed that further dialogue could help bridge the remaining gaps.

Separately, following meetings with World Bank President Ajay Banga and other senior officials, the finance minister described those discussions as “very positive.” He said the World Bank had expressed no disagreement with the government’s electoral commitments and was ready to align with its development agenda.