Foreign exchange reserves dropped by $24 billion
September 18, 20241 Min Read

Jumbangla Desk: Bangladesh's foreign exchange reserves have crossed the milestone of 24 billion dollars. In a video message on Tuesday, Bangladesh Bank spokesperson Husne Ara Shikha said, 'According to the latest data, foreign exchange reserves amount to 24.3 billion dollars. According to the IMF's BPM-6 calculation method, this is closer to $20 billion.'

Dollar

Reserves are calculated as per International Monetary Fund (IMF) BPM-6 measure. Actual reserves are calculated by subtracting current liabilities from total reserves.

The central bank released the reserve data from July 2023 after IMF loan approval.

Referring to the growing amount of reserves, spokesperson Shikha said, 'It is possible to prevent the shortage of foreign exchange reserves due to the increase in expatriate income. Expatriate income has increased by 60 percent in the current financial year compared to the last financial year.

He further said, 'combining the growth of July and August shows that about 90 per cent growth has taken place. Interbank foreign exchange transactions are enabled. Banks will be able to transact among themselves and exchange rates will be market-based.

"Currently, the price of the dollar is 118-120 rupees. The difference between the dollar price in the banking channel and the open market is now less than 1 per cent,' he said.

Shikha further said, 'We believe that active interbank transactions will stabilize the foreign exchange rate market or dollar price.'