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US$210m Loan For RNPP

Dhaka, Moscow to talk in person how to repay instalments

Published : Sunday, 26 March, 2023 at 12:00 AM

Shahnaj Begum

Bangladesh and Russia is set to conduct a meeting 'in person' to settle the issue of US$210 million loan repayment for Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant (RNPP) project.

The government has so far failed to repay three instalments of the $500 million which was taken from Russian Federation to conduct a feasibility and infrastructure development study of RNPP.

Bangladesh failed to pay this amount as Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) system put sanctions on some Russian banks for Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The western countries suspended a number of Russian and Belarusian banks from the SWIFT system, following that, Bangladesh Bank asked all the scheduled banks to stop transactions through the SWIFT system with the Russian banks, which have been sanctioned over the Ukraine invasion.

To settle the money matter, Russia proposed Bangladesh to repay their outstanding loans in ruble or through a third country, however, Bangladesh disagreed due to currency-exchange risk and some technical problem in repayments.

"Now the dues stand at $210 million. We are unable to pay the bill as there is no system of payment," an official said.

Bangladesh and Russia signed an $11.38 billion loan agreement for the RNPP in 2016. It has so far provided nearly $5.0 billion, according to the Ministry of Science and Technology.

Following repeated Russian pressure, the Bangladesh-Russia Inter-governmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific and Technical Cooperation (BR-IGC), held a three-day meeting virtually from March 13 to 15. However, the issue of repayment of outstanding instalments of Russian credit remained unsettled.

"We've informed Russia that it is not possible to settle the issue over this virtual meeting (JEC meet). It's better to discuss in person for reaching a better solution, either they will come or we will go there very shortly," a senior official said.

The Russian delegation led by the Head of the Federal Agency for Fisheries of the Russian Federation Ilya Shestakov, while the Bangladeshi delegation was headed by Secretary of Economic Relations Division, Ministry of Finance of the People's Republic of Bangladesh Sharifa Khan has failed to reach any conclusion.

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Editor : Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury

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