Syful Islam
Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina last week concluded an official visit to China, a few weeks after visiting the closest neighbor, India, from June 21-22. Hasina and her ruling Awami League have been getting all-out political support from New Delhi for over 15 years, and her trips to China and India were closely watched by diplomats in the other country.
Hasina went to China with a jumbo delegation of 196 members, including her Cabinet colleagues, top government officials, and business leaders, among others.
Bangladesh’s topline expectation from this visit was securing a $5 billion loan as budget support, mainly to replenish the country’s dwindling foreign currency reserve.
Bangladesh and China have an annual bilateral trade turnover of $23 billion. Of that, less than $1 billion is accounted for by Bangladeshi exports to China; the vast majority is Bangladesh’s imports. The trade deficit with China has been putting pressure on Bangladesh’s foreign currency reserves, which are already struggling to stay afloat amid the inflation sparked by the Russia-Ukraine war. The government was forced to cut down monthly imports to below $5 billion from a usual over $8 billion a month in the past to cope with the pressure on the forex reserve.
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