Foreign exchange reserves climb past $33 billion

Strong remittance inflows and export earnings have continued to lift reserves, the central bank says

Bangladesh's foreign currency reserves have exceeded $33 billion, with another $1 billion added within a week.

Based on Bangladesh Bank's import data for April, the current reserves are sufficient to cover nearly five months of import payments.

However, the reserves are expected to decline slightly next week when Bangladesh settles its import bill with the Asian Clearing Union (ACU).

The central bank has yet to finalise the amount payable.

Bangladesh Bank spokesperson Arief Hossain Khan told bdnews24.com that reserves stood at $33.01 billion under the International Monetary Fund's BPM6 accounting standard at the close of business on Thursday.

Gross reserves stood at $37.66 billion, central bank Executive Director Arief added.

The reserves first crossed $31 billion, reaching $31.07 billion on Jun 14, helped by strong remittance inflows and the disbursement of a $1 billion budget support loan from the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

They rose again to $32.47 billion on Jun 29 after Bangladesh received $667.1 million in budget support from the World Bank. Gross reserves stood at $37.05 billion that day.

Arief said reserves had increased further over the past few days, driven by continued inflows of remittances and export earnings.