Bangladesh's forex reserves cross $24b BB

The foreign exchange reserves of Bangladesh have crossed $24 billion, Bangladesh Bank says.

"According to the latest data, foreign exchange reserves amount to $24.3 billion. It is close to $20 billion according to the BPM-6 calculation standard of the IMF," said Bangladesh Bank (BB) spokesperson Husne Ara Shikha in a video message yesterday.

Net reserves are calculated according to the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) BPM-6 measure. Subtracting short-term liabilities from gross or total reserves gives the amount of net or actual reserves.

The central bank published the information on reserves from July 2023 after the IMF's loan approval.

Stating that the amount of reserves is increasing, spokesperson Shikha said, "It is becoming possible to prevent the loss of foreign exchange reserves because remittances are increasing. Compared to last fiscal year, there was 60 percent growth in this fiscal year."

"If we take the growth in August and July together, it is about 90 percent growth. Interbank foreign exchange trading is enabled. Banks are able to trade themselves if they want to and the exchange rates are market based," she added.

She said, "The price of the dollar is currently Tk 118-120. The difference between the dollar price in the banking channel and the curb market price is now less than 1 percent."

Shikha said, "We believe that the foreign exchange rate market or the dollar price will stabilise due to active interbank transactions."