Forex Reserve touch $14 billion again

Bangladesh’s foreign exchange reserves has yet again touched the $14 billion mark.

Abdur Rahim Badal Chief Economics Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 24 March 2013, 10:50 PM
Updated : 24 March 2013, 10:58 PM
Bangladesh Bank governor Atiur Rehman says the present state of forex reserve was good enough to pay for imports for five months.
Bangladesh Bank officials say that for the second time this month, the forex reserves touched the $14 billion mark on Sunday.
It did so for the first time on Mar 5 but fell to $13.5 billion after accounting for the Asian Clearing Union (ACU) bills.
“The strength of Bangladesh’s economy is evident from the rising forex reserves,” Bangladesh Bank governor Atiur Rahman said.
Ever increasing remittances from expatriates primarily explains the upward curve of foreign exchange reserves, said Bangladesh Bank’s Forex & Treasury Management chief Kazi Saidur Rahman.
Rahman said that increasing exports and fall in import costs also contributed to the rise in forex reserves.
The Bangladesh Bank has been picking up US dollars from the market on a regular basis to stabilise the exchange rate but that has not helped.
At least $3.5 billion have been picked up from the market so far in the current fiscal (July 1- Mar 24) by the Bangladesh Bank, Rahman said.
Never before has the apex bank picked up so much dollars from the market.
Kazi Saidur Rehman says that these purchases were intended to preserve the current trend of rising exports and remittances.
But it has not helped to stabilise the exchange rate.
The dollar is continuing to fall against the Taka. On Sunday, the exchange rate fell to Tk 78.30 for a dollar against the peak of Tk 85 just over a year ago.
Expatriate Bangladeshis sent home $14.2 billion in remittances during 2012, up 21 percent from 2011.
Never before has Bangladesh received so much in remittances.
The trend continues in 2013. In January, Bangladesh received $1.33 billion in remittances and $1.15 billion in February.
In the first fifteen days of March, $0.61 billion was received as remittance.
In the first eight and half months of 2012-13 fiscal, $10.50 billion has been received as remittances.