[ 31st July, 1972 ]
WHEREAS pursuant to the Articles of Agreement drawn up at the United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference held in the month of July in the year nineteen hundred and forty four at Bretton Woods in New Hampshire in the United States of America, two International bodies known as the International Monetary Fund and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development were established;
AND WHEREAS pursuant to the Articles of Agreement approved by the Directors of the said International Bank for Reconstruction and Development in the year nineteen hundred and sixty an international body known as the International Development Association was established;
AND WHEREAS in pursuance of the said several Articles of Agreement the said international bodies have each prescribed the terms and conditions set out in the First Schedule to this Order as the terms and conditions, upon which the People’s Republic of Bangladesh may be admitted to the membership of each such body and on which the Articles of Agreement relating to each such body may be signed and accepted on behalf of the Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh;
AND WHEREAS it is expedient that the People’s Republic of Bangladesh may be a member of the said international bodies, and to make certain provisions in that behalf;
NOW, THEREFORE, in pursuance of the Proclamation of Independence of Bangladesh read with the Provisional Constitution of Bangladesh Order, 1972 and in exercise of all powers enabling him in that behalf, the President is pleased to make and promulgate the following Order:-
1- (1) This Order may be called as the International Financial Organisations Order, 1972.
(2) It extends to the whole of Bangladesh.
(3) It shall come into force at once.
2. In this Order, unless there is anything repugnant in the subject or context,-
“Association” means the International Development Association;
“Association Agreement” means the Articles of Agreement for the establishment and operation of the Association;
“Bank” means the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development;
“Bank Agreement” means the Articles of Agreement for the establishment and operation of the Bank as amended;
“Fund” means International Monetary Fund;
“Fund Agreement” means the Articles of Agreement for the establishment and operation of the Fund as amended;
“Government” means Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh;
“Membership Resolutions” means the resolutions adopted by the Board of Governors of the Fund, the Bank and the Association, respectively, specifying the terms and conditions upon which the People’s Republic of Bangladesh shall be admitted to membership in these Organisations as set out respectively in Parts I, II and III of First Schedule 1[; “Special Drawing Rights Department” means the Special Drawing Rights Department of the Fund.]
3. (1) The Government shall designate, by a notification in the official Gazette, the officer who shall be authorised on behalf of the Government to sign any or all of the originals of the following Articles of Agreement, that is to say, the Fund Agreement, the Bank Agreement and the Association Agreement and to deposit in the cases of the Fund Agreement and the Bank Agreement, with the Government of the United States, and in the case of the Association Agreement, with the Bank, instruments of acceptance of the said Agreements and of the terms and conditions respectively prescribed under the said Agreements and the Membership Resolutions or by instruments under his hand, to empower such person as may be designated in such instruments to sign the said Agreements and to deposit the said instruments of acceptance as aforesaid.
(2) Upon the accession of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh to membership in the Fund, the People’s Republic of Bangladesh is hereby authorised to become a participant in the 2[Special Drawing Rights Department] and the officer authorised to sign the Fund Agreement under clause 1 shall have authority to deposit with the Fund on behalf of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh an instrument stating that the People’s Republic of Bangladesh undertakes all the obligations of a participant in the 3[Special Drawing Rights Department] in accordance with the Law of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh and representing that the People’s Republic of Bangladesh has taken all steps necessary to enable it to carry out all obligations of a participant in the 4[Special Drawing Rights Department].
5[3A. The Government may accept, with or without any condition, wholly or in part, any proposal for-
(a) any amendment to the Fund Agreement, the Bank Agreement or the Association Agreement; and
(b) an increase, where occasion arises, in the quota of Bangladesh in the Fund.]
4- (1) There shall be paid out of the Consolidated Fund of the Government all sums required for the purpose of making-
(a) all payments and transfers or other adjustments required to be made from time to time 6[* * *] under the provisions of the Membership Resolutions and the Fund Agreement;
(b) all payments or transfers or other adjustments on account of the participation of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh in the 7[Special Drawing Rights Department];
(c) all payments required to be made from time to time to the Bank under the provisions of the Membership Resolutions and the Bank Agreement;
(d) all payments required to be made from time to time to the Association under the Membership Resolutions and the Association Agreement.
(2) The Government is hereby authorised by borrowing, or by any other appropriate means, to acquire and pay on behalf of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh the amounts that may fall due from time to time to the Fund, the Bank and the Association under the provisions of the Membership Resolutions upon which the People’s Republic of Bangladesh shall be admitted to the membership in the said Organisations and under their respective Articles of Agreement, and to pay, transfer or make adjustments of amounts required on account of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh’s participation in the 8[Special Drawing Rights Department].
(3) The Government may, if it thinks fit, create and issue to the Fund, the Bank or the Association non-interest bearing and non-negotiable notes or other obligations as are provided for by 9[Section 4] of Article III of the Fund Agreement, by Section 12 of Article V of the Bank Agreement and by paragraph (e) of Section 2 of Article II of the Association Agreement (which sections relate to the acceptance by the Fund, the Bank, or the Association, as the case may be, of notes or similar obligations in place of Bangladesh currency) and the sums payable under such notes or obligations so created and issued shall be a charge on the Consolidated Fund.
(4) For the purpose of providing any sums required to be paid out of the Consolidated Fund under sub-clauses (a), (b), (c) and (d) of clause (1), and clause (3) of this Article, the Government may raise loans by the creation and issue to the Bangladesh Bank in such form as it thinks fit, of non-interest bearing and non-negotiable notes or obligations.
[Omitted]4A. [Omitted by section 3 of the International Financial Organisations (Amendment) Act, 1998 (XVIII of 1998).]
[Omitted]4B. [Omitted by section 3 of the International Financial Organisations (Amendment) Act, 1998 (XVIII of 1998).]
5- (1) The Bangladesh Bank shall serve as the fiscal agency as required under Article V, section 1, of the Fund Agreement and Article III, Section 2, of the Bank Agreement and Article VI, Sections 9 and 10 of the Association Agreement and is accordingly authorised to carry out, on behalf of the Government all transactions and operations under the various provisions of the Articles of Agreement of the Fund, the Bank and the Association.
(2) The Bangladesh Bank shall be the depository of the Bangladesh currency holdings or any other assets of the Fund, the Bank and the Association.
(3) Subject to clause (2) of Article 6 the Bangladesh Bank, on behalf of the Government shall be entitled to receive any amount which may be paid or transferred to the People’s Republic of Bangladesh by the Fund or the Bank, including any amount of gold, currency, or Special Drawing Rights to be paid or allocated to the People’s Republic of Bangladesh by the Fund or which may otherwise be acquired by the People’s Republic of Bangladesh in consequence of its participation in the 10[Special Drawing Rights Department].
(4) Notwithstanding anything in the Bangladesh Bank (Temporary) Order, 1971, the Bangladesh Bank is hereby authorised to accept and hold any notes and obligations created and issued in accordance with the provisions of clause (4) of Article 4.
6- (1) There shall be paid out of the Consolidated Fund of the Government all sums required for the redemption of any notes or obligations created and issued to the Bangladesh Bank under clause (4) of Article 4.
(2) All sums received by or on behalf of the Government from the Fund, the Bank and the Association other than sums received by reason of operations of the Bangladesh Bank under Article V or Article VII or Article VIII or 11[Article XIX] of the Fund Agreement shall be paid into the Consolidated Fund of the Government and the sums so received, in so far as they represent capital, shall, unless otherwise provided in that behalf by any written law, be applied from time to time as the Government may direct in the redemption of notes or other obligations issued to the Bangladesh Bank under this Order.
7- (1) Where under the Articles of the Fund Agreement, Bank Agreement and Association Agreement the Government is required to furnish these bodies with any information, the Government, or if generally or specially authorised by the Government in this behalf, the Bangladesh Bank may by order in writing require any person to furnish to such officer or other person as may be specified in the Order, such detailed information as the government or the Bangladesh Bank, as the case may be, may determine to be essential for the purpose of complying with the request of the Fund, the Bank and the Association, and any person so required shall be bound to furnish such information.
(2) Every officer or person to whom any information is required to be furnished under this Section shall be deemed to be a public servant within the meaning of section 21 of the Bangladesh Penal Code (XLV of 1860).
(3) No information obtained under this Section shall be furnished to the Fund, the Bank and the Association in such detail as to disclose the affairs of any person, and the provisions of sub-sections (1), (2) and (3) of section 54 of the Income-tax Act, 1922 (XI of 1922) as adapted in Bangladesh, shall apply in relation to information obtained under this Section as they apply to the particulars referred to in that Section.
(4) A determination of the Government or the Bangladesh Bank under sub-section (1) as to the extent of detail in which information is to be furnished shall be final, and in any prosecution under section 176 or section 177 of the Bangladesh Penal Code (XLV of 1860) in respect of any information required to be furnished under this section, it shall not be a defence to assert that the information was required to be furnished in greater detail than was essential for the purpose of complying with the request of the Fund, the Bank and the Association.
(5) No prosecution for an offence in respect of any information required to be furnished under this Section shall be instituted except with the previous sanction of the Government.
8- Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in any other law the provisions of:
(a) Section 2 (b) of Article VIII, Sections 2 to 9 inclusive of Article IX and 12[Article XXI (b) of, and paragraph 5(d) of Schedule D to, the Fund] Agreement as set out in Part I of the Second Schedule;
(b) Sections 2 to 9 inclusive of Article VII of the Bank Agreement as set out in Part II of the Second Schedule; and
(c) Sections 2 to 9 inclusive of Article VIII of the Association Agreement as set out in Part III of the Second Schedule of this Order, shall have the force of law in the People’s Republic of Bangladesh:
Provided that nothing in Section 9 of Article IX of the Fund Agreement or in Section 9 of the Article VII of the Bank Agreement or in Section 9 of Article VIII of the Association Agreement shall be construed asÔÇö
(a) entitling the Fund or the Bank or the Association to import into Bangladesh goods free of any duty of customs without any restriction on their subsequent sale therein, or
(b) conferring on the Fund or Bank or the Association any exemption from duties or taxes which form part of the price of goods sold or which are in fact no more than charges for services rendered.
9- Nothing in this Order shall prejudice or derogate from the right of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh to claim, receive or recover from Pakistan any assets, including gold subscription to the Fund.
10- The Government may, by notification in the official Gazette, make rules for giving effect to the provisions set out in the Schedules, and generally for carrying out the purposes of this Order.
Foot notes
1 The semi-colon (;) was substituted for the full stop (.) and thereafter the definition “Special Drawing Rights Department” was added by section 2 of the International Financial Organisations (Amendment) Ordinance, 1976 (Ordinance No. XCIV of 1976)
2 The words “Special Drawing Rights Department” were substituted for the words “Special Drawing Account” by section 3 of the International Financial Organisations (Amendment) Ordinance, 1976 (Ordinance No. XCIV of 1976)
3 The words “Special Drawing Rights Department” were substituted for the words “Special Drawing Account in the Fund” by section 3 of the International Financial Organisations (Amendment) Ordinance, 1976 (Ordinance No. XCIV of 1976)
4 The words “Special Drawing Rights Department” were substituted for the words “Special Drawing Account in the Fund” by section 3 of the International Financial Organisations (Amendment) Ordinance, 1976 (Ordinance No. XCIV of 1976)
5 Article 3A was inserted by section 2 of the International Financial Organisations (Amendment) Act, 1998 (Act No. XVIII of 1998)
6 The words “to the Fund” were omitted by section 4 of the International Financial Organisations (Amendment) Ordinance, 1976 (Ordinance No. XCIV of 1976)
7 The words “Special Drawing Rights Department” were substituted for the words “Special Drawing Account in the Fund” by section 4 of the International Financial Organisations (Amendment) Ordinance, 1976 (Ordinance No. XCIV of 1976)
8 The words “Special Drawing Rights Department” were substituted for the words “Special Drawing Account in the Fund” by section 4 of the International Financial Organisations (Amendment) Ordinance, 1976 (Ordinance No. XCIV of 1976)
9 The word and figure “Section 4” were substituted for the word and figure “Section 5” by section 4 of the International Financial Organisations (Amendment) Ordinance, 1976 (Ordinance No. XCIV of 1976)
10 The words “Special Drawing Rights Department” were substituted for the words “Special Drawing Account” by section 6 of the International Financial Organisations (Amendment) Ordinance, 1976 (Ordinance No. XCIV of 1976)
11 The word and figure “Article XIX” were substituted for the word and figure “Article XXV” by section 7 of the International Financial Organisations (Amendment) Ordinance, 1976 (Ordinance No. XCIV of 1976)
12 The words, figures, brackets, letters and commas “Article XXI (b) of, and paragraph 5(d) of Schedule D to, the Fund” were substituted for the words, figures, brackets and letter “Article XXVII(b) of the Fund” by section 8 of the International Financial Organisations (Amendment) Ordinance, 1976 (Ordinance No. XCIV of 1976)
