Bangladesh's forex reserves near $27b mark

By mid-April this year, the country's total reserves have risen to nearly $27 billion. Under the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) BPM-6 accounting method, the reserves are estimated to be around $21.40 billion.

Bangladesh Bank provided this information in its latest update on Sunday (April 20).

According to data from the central bank, as of April 17, the country's gross reserves totaled $26.73 billion. In comparison, under the IMF's BPM-6 accounting method, the reserves stand at $21.39 billion.

Additionally, Bangladesh Bank tracks another reserve calculation called usable reserves, which is not usually disclosed publicly. Usable reserves are determined by excluding the IMF’s SDRs, foreign currency held in banks' foreign currency clearing accounts, and amounts under Aakur bills.

According to sources, the country's actual usable reserves have now exceeded $15 billion. Typically, a country is expected to maintain reserves equal to at least three months' worth of import costs.