Bangladesh cabinet approved a Bank Companies Act amendment that bans willful loan defaulters from traveling abroad. The draft law, based on an IMF recommendation, will require banks to submit a list of willful defaulters to the central bank. Delinquent loans reached 8.16% of total loans in December, up from 7.93% a year earlier. Meanwhile, Bangladesh’s central bank expects softening commodity prices would alleviate exchange rate pressure and lower domestic inflation. The bank injected USD 4.24 bln into the foreign exchange market in the December quarter to curb exchange rate volatility. However, inflation remained above the revised 7.5% target, with the outlook uncertain due to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.