Bangladesh has never been a loan defaulter: PM rules out Sri Lanka-like crisis

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the parliament today ruled out the possibility of a Sri Lanka-like economic crisis in Bangladesh, stating that the country's economy is "very strong".

"The base of Bangladesh's economy is very strong. We're very careful about it," she said in her winding-up speech in the 17th session of the 11th Parliament.

The prime minister said this, referring to the remarks of the Jatiya Party chief and Deputy Leader of the Opposition GM Quader who suggested to Hasina that Bangladesh needs to be cautious after the ongoing economic crisis in Sri Lanka.

In reply, Hasina dismissed the fear of Bangladesh falling into any debt trap, saying that the country has always been repaying loans in time ever since the Awami League formed the government.

"Bangladesh is the only country which has never become a defaulter in loan repayment and will not become so in future, as well as, our economic base is strong in this respect," she said.

She said Bangladesh remains the 31st largest economy in the world.

Hasina, also the leader of the House, said, there is no possibility of an economic crisis like that in Sri Lanka.

The prime minister said her government doesn't take commissions like the BNP and Jatiya Party governments "as they pocketed Tk 10 after purchasing an item spending Tk 20".

She said her government, in most cases, has completed the works of projects in due time or before the scheduled time, referring to the completion of the 1,320 MW Payra Thermal Plant within eight months of starting its works and thus saving Tk 800 crore.

Earlier, GM Quader in his winding-up speech apprehended that Bangladesh might face the consequences like Sri Lanka.

"The incidents in Sri Lanka are making us concerned, it was the advancing country in South Asia, suddenly their economy faced a debacle," he said.

He also expressed his concern about whether Bangladesh would be able to repay the loans that it is taking.