Bangladesh's forex reserves top $24 billion on strong exports, remittance growth

Bangladesh’s foreign exchange reserves have crossed $24 billion mark.

Bangladesh Bank’s Forex Reserves and Treasury Management Department General Manager Kazi Sayedur Rahman said the reserves were $24.08 billion at the end of Wednesday’s transaction.

He attributed the rise in the reserves to the growth in exports and remittance inflow.

Rahman said the reserves were good enough to pay import bills for more than seven months.

The reserves rose by around $4 billion in the last one year.

According to the central bank, the reserves were $20.1 billion on Apr 22 last year and crossed $23 billion mark for the first time on Feb 26.

Reserves dropped to $22 billion in the first week of March after Bangladesh Bank cleared import payments to Asian Clearing Union (ACU) for January-February period.

The reserves again surpassed $23-billion mark on March 30.

According to the central bank, Bangladesh received $1.05 billion in remittances in the first 24 days of the current month.

The central bank officials expect the figure would cross $1.3 billion at the end of the month.

Expatriate Bangladeshis remitted $11.25 billion in the first nine months of the current fiscal year, beginning July 1. It is a 7.21 percent increase over the same previous period.

According to Export Promotion Bureau (EPB), export earnings in the July-March period of the current FY posted a three percent growth over the previous corresponding period.