Just like Pakistan, now the treasury of neighbouring country Bangladesh is also getting empty.
It is being said that Bangladesh currently has a debt of more than 1 billion dollars from Indian power companies. Bangladesh is now facing difficulties in repaying these loans.
The reason for this is said to be the lack of foreign exchange reserves in Bangladesh. Documents related to this issue and sources with knowledge of the matter have confirmed this.
Bangladesh has been struggling to pay its bills since last year due to expensive fuel and commodity imports. This situation has been worsened by the war that started in Ukraine in 2022.
Meanwhile, the political turmoil following the fall of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government in August has further complicated the situation.
Bangladesh needs urgent aid of $5 billion from international financial institutions to stabilise its dwindling foreign exchange reserves.
Meanwhile, its central bank has also raised key interest rates to tame rising inflation. Last year, Bangladesh also sought a $4.7 billion relief package from the International Monetary Fund (IMC).
An official at the Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) said efforts were underway to clear the payments but the dollar crisis had made the process very complicated, Dawn reported.
Among the Indian power companies, Adani Power has the highest dues of $800 million to pay. However, Adani Power has not responded on this issue.
PTC India and SEIL Energy India Limited have sent written requests to BPDB to recover the dues. According to the documents, PTC India owes about $80 million and SEIL owes $190 million.
A PTC India spokesperson said that they have had a long relationship with the supply of power to BPDB since 2013 and the current contract is to supply power till 2022. At the same time, SEIL has apprised the Bangladesh authorities of the unbearable situation of dues.
Bangladesh, which imports 20% of its power from India, has not been able to pay for electricity for the last eight to nine months.
SEIL was awarded the contract to supply power to Bangladesh under a 15-year contract in 2018. SEIL said in a statement that they are continuing to supply power to Bangladesh and hope that the relevant authorities will abide by their contractual terms and expedite payments so that power supply can continue.
According to the documents, SEIL and PTC India have bank guarantees of $34.1 million and $30.7 million in connection with their power contracts with Bangladesh.
Bangladesh’s Rupali Bank is now trying to arrange dollars to pay the amount of about $270 million so that Indian companies do not cash their bank guarantees.
Rupali Bank and BPDB together are trying to obtain US dollars from the Central Bank of Bangladesh so that electricity bills can be paid in foreign currency.
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