Saifur leaves for Istanbul, Washington tomorrow
Star Business Report
Finance and Planning Minister M Saifur Rahman leaves Dhaka tomorrow for Istanbul and Washington on a 11-day tour to attend the annual meeting of the Asian Development Bank and meet high officials of World Bank and International Monetary Fund.Saifur will attend the 38th annual meeting of the ADB Board of Governors slated for May 2-5 in the Turkish city. In the second leg of his tour, the finance minister will fly to Washington on May 7. During the four-day stay in the US capital, Saifur will attend different official programmes. Finance ministry sources said loan and other financial issues will dominate agenda during Saifur's talks with high officials of IMF and WB. Sources, however, said Saifur will meet WB President James Wolfenson and IMF Managing Director Rodrigo de Rato and other high officials of the two lenders. Saifur will also meet WB president-elect Paul Wolfowitz who succeeds Wolfenson in June this year. IMF is yet to disburse the fourth tranche of poverty reduction growth facility (PRGF) loan which was scheduled to be released in January, 2005. The disbursement of WB's Development Support Credit III amounting to $200 million is also underway. Sources said WB and IMF may place the loan proposals before their boards in June for approval if Bangladesh government fulfils the tagged conditions by this time.
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