The IMF has recommended checking at least five high-risk banks in Bangladesh for money laundering and terror financing by next June. This is part of the structural benchmarks for the next 12 months following the IMF’s second review of its $4.7 billion lending package, which approved the release of $1.148 billion in the third tranche.
Annually, an estimated $7.0 to $8.0 billion is laundered overseas, mainly through trade under- and over-invoicing. The Global Financial Integrity (GFI) reported that Bangladesh lost nearly $8.27 billion annually between 2009 and 2018 due to mis-invoicing. State agencies have struggled to prevent money laundering or recover the funds.
To improve budget execution and fiscal transparency, the IMF mandates that by next June, at least 50% of central government transactions, excluding certain payments, must be done through electronic funds transfer (EFT). Additionally, the government must approve a digital transformation project for income-tax administration to boost revenue collection.
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