Election date to be announced after voter list prepared, consensus reached on reforms: CA 

Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus has said the date for a general election will be announced once a consensus on reforms is reached with political parties and the voter list is prepared.

The head of the interim government made the comment during a meeting with International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva at the UN headquarters in New York on the sidelines of the annual session of the UN General Assembly on Tuesday (24 September).

Yunus said the government would hold discussions with political parties on the recommendations of the commissions. 

Once the consensus on the reforms is reached and the voter list is prepared, the date for the election will be announced, he added.

Kristalina Georgieva pledged support to Bangladesh's reform initiatives, saying the IMF has sent a team to Dhaka to hold talks with the stakeholders over the matter, reports UNB.

"The IMF remains fully committed to Bangladesh and will continue to help advance the reform agenda for sustainable and equitable growth," she told Yunus.

The IMF chief applauded Prof Yunus' work to uplift the lives of the people of Bangladesh.

"It is a different country. It is Bangladesh 2.0," Georgieva told Yunus when he gave a short briefing on the student-led mass uprising that ousted the previous autocratic regime.

Prof Yunus spoke about the six commissions that the interim government has set up to recommend vital reforms in election, civil administration, police, judiciary, anti-corruption and constitution.

The IMF chief executive extended her support for the initiatives. She said the lender would fast-track financial support for the government.

She said she had sent an IMF team "quickly" to Bangladesh and it is now in Dhaka at the moment. The team would place its report to the IMF management board next month.

Georgieva said the IMF board could initiate a new lending programme for Bangladesh based on the report of the team or it could also extend more lending under the existing support programme launched early last year.

Energy, Power and Transport Adviser Fouzul Kabir Khan and eminent economist Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya attended the meeting.

Adviser Fouzul told the IMF chief that the interim government took just a week to "dismantle the architecture of crimes" in the power and energy sector.

Dr Debapriya stressed the need for IMF support to bolster the country's balance of payment. He said the role of the IMF would be critical in stabilising exchange rates.