Foreign exchange reserves again exceed $31 billion

The country's foreign exchange reserves have again exceeded $31 billion. At the end of the day on Wednesday, the gross reserves of Bangladesh Bank stood at $31.33 billion. According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) accounting system BPM-6, the reserves stood at $26.31 billion. On Sunday, these figures were $30.86 billion and $25.87 billion, respectively.

Earlier in July this year, after paying $2.22 billion to the Asian Clearing Union (ACU), the reserves fell to a low of $29.53 billion. According to BPM-6, it stood at $24.56 billion.

Due to a significant growth in remittance flows, increased export earnings and obtaining loans from international organizations, the gross reserves increased to $31.72 billion at the end of June - the highest in the last 28 months. At that time, the reserves stood at $26.69 billion as per BPM-6.

The central bank started publishing reserves as per BPM-6 in June 2023 in compliance with the IMF conditions. At that time, the reserves were $24.75 billion. Before that, the reserves had last fallen below $32 billion in early March 2023.

The highest reserves in the country's history were $48 billion in August 2021. From there, it fell to $20.48 billion at the end of the Awami League government, at the end of last July. However, after the change of government, due to strict control of money laundering and reduction in hundi, expatriate income increased. In the 2024-25 fiscal year, remittances increased by about 27 percent to $30.33 billion. Till August 20 of the current fiscal year, $4.12 billion in remittances had come into the country, which is about 19.6 percent more than the same period last year.