In a significant boost to Bangladesh’s export sector, the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), a key arm of the World Bank Group, has committed $500 million in loan guarantees to relaunch the country’s Export Development Fund (EDF). Finance Secretary Dr Md Khairuzzaman Mozumder announced it on Tuesday, October 14, during the International Monetary Fund–World Bank Annual Meetings in Washington DC. The announcement marks a pivotal shift in how Bangladesh will finance its export-driven growth. For years, the EDF operated by drawing directly from Bangladesh Bank’s foreign exchange reserves, offering low-interest foreign currency loans to exporters, primarily in the ready-made garment (RMG), knitwear, and light manufacturing sectors, to import raw materials like cotton, yarn, and accessories. But as reserves dwindled amid...