Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
05DHAKA362
2005-01-29 09:45:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Dhaka
Cable title:  

IMF REP FEARS BDG IS LETTING PRGF PROGRAM DIE

Tags:  EAID ECON PGOV BG 
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This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
C O N F I D E N T I A L DHAKA 000362 

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/29/2010
TAGS: EAID ECON PGOV BG
SUBJECT: IMF REP FEARS BDG IS LETTING PRGF PROGRAM DIE

Classified By: P/E Counselor D.C. McCullough, reason para 1.5 b.

C O N F I D E N T I A L DHAKA 000362

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/29/2010
TAGS: EAID ECON PGOV BG
SUBJECT: IMF REP FEARS BDG IS LETTING PRGF PROGRAM DIE

Classified By: P/E Counselor D.C. McCullough, reason para 1.5 b.


1. (C) Summary. The IMF rep says the BDG has decided that
letting the PRGF die is cheaper than the political and huge
financial costs of privatizing the first state-owned bank.
He wants key embassies to urge the BDG to reconsider but is
not hopeful that the PRGF can be saved. End Summary.


2. (SBU) On January 27, we met with Jonathan Dunn, the
recently-arrived IMF Resident Representative, to discuss the
status of Bangladesh's Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility
(PRGF) program.


3. (C) The IMF team visit to Bangladesh in October went well,
Dunn recalled. Reforms in tax administration were
progressing and the BDG committed to proceeding with the
privatization of Rupali Bank, the first and smallest of the
four public sector banks slated for sale. But in December,
"the Bangladeshis got sticker shock." They realized that to
recapitalize the bank fully in preparation for sale, after 30
years of mismanagement and corruption, it would cost USD 500
million, about twice what they had expected. Another
problem, Dunn said, is BNP MP Hafiz Ibrahim, a Bank minority
shareholder whose brother is a friend of Tariq Rahman, the
PM's son. Ibrahim, valuing his access to the bank's cash
flow generated largely by remittances, is adamantly against
the privatization, and obtained a court injunction against
BDG "interference" with the bank. "They're generating new
bad loans every day," Dunn said. "If there were a run on
these state banks, the government would fall. They would
need USD 700 million that they don't have."


4. (C) Dunn said that the finance secretary told him Finance
Minister Rahman has concluded that this is not a deal he
could sell to the cabinet. In addition to the huge
recapitalization cost, there would be the political pain in
the run-up to an election of laying off one third of the
bank's staff.


5. (C) The BDG, Dunn believes, has thus consciously decided
it prefers to lose the PRGF and associated budget support
financing from other donors than paying the price and
implementing the reforms needed to sustain the PRGF. Revenue
collection in recent months is also faltering, and there will
be great political pressure on the BDG to award new pay
recommendations from the civil service pay commission that it
cannot afford. "And there's no more scope for bank lending,"
he said.


6. (C) Dunn asked the USG to urge Finance Minister Rahman to
reconsider his decision. He doubts Rahman would budge, but
fears that without BDG movement before the next IMF team
comes at the end of February, the PRGF would start a slow
death until its formal expiration in June 2006. Asked about
his own future, Dunn noted that the IMF has had an office in
Bangladesh since 1972, with or (usually) without a Fund
program, so he has every expectation of serving a normal tour
of duty.


7. (C) According to Dunn, if the PRGF goes off the rails,
World Bank project financing would continue but direct budget
support would stop.


8. (C) Comment: Dunn's concerns about the PRGF and his
approach to key donor embassies have made the local press.
He gives the Finance Ministry credit for being honest about
its inability to proceed, but is clearly disappointed by
recent developments. In appropriate BDG meetings, we will
underscore the PRGF's value to Bangladesh and express the
hope that the BDG can find a way to keep it alive.
THOMAS