Bangladesh Faces Reduced Power Supplies Despite Adani’s Payment

Bangladesh, a nation grappling with a financial crisis and weeks of violent protests that overthrew Sheikh Hasina’s government, continues to face a persistent electricity shortage. This crisis has escalated the risk of blackouts, even after Bangladesh made a partial payment to Adani Power Ltd., a power plant in India.

Adani Power Ltd. has received a letter of credit for $170 million, which has eased pressure from lenders. However, this partial payment does not resolve the crisis. The company has decided not to halt supplies for now, pending negotiations with the lenders of the Godda thermal plant in Jharkhand.

Ahsan H Mansur, the governor of Bangladesh Bank, expressed frustration, stating that payments should have been made by now. The central bank had issued an instruction for payment earlier this week.

The electricity supplies from the Godda thermal plant, which had previously accounted for about 10% of Bangladesh’s total, were reduced to approximately 500 megawatts on Thursday. This reduction follows a previous halving of supplies to about 700 megawatts earlier in the week.

These outages have the potential to exacerbate discontent among the population, who are already struggling to cope with the economic challenges they face. The interim government, led by Muhammad Yunus, is already grappling with billions of dollars in arrears and is under pressure to address these issues.