Bangladesh's forex reserves hit new record of $34 billion

Bangladesh's foreign exchange reserves have crossed the $34 billion (3,423 crore dollar) mark for the first time amid coronavirus pandemic, sources at the Forex Reserve and Treasury Management Department of Bangladesh Bank said on Thursday.

The reasons behind the record reserves have been attributed to remittance sent by the Bangladesh expatriates, less import payments, loans and grants from the development partners like the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, IMF and European Commission amid coronavirus pandemic.

All these positive factors have contributed to the growth of foreign exchange reserves,  said a senior official of the Bangladesh Bank.
According to the Bangladesh Bank statistics, country's foreign exchange reserves rose to $34.23 billion on June 3. The previous highest reserves were recorded on September 5, 2017 when the reserves stood $33.68 billion (3,368 crore).  

The official said, remittance is the key driver to raise the reserve to this highest point.

From July 1, 2019 to June 2 this year, total remittance stood at $16.5billion, which was 10 percent higher than the amount of same period of the previous fiscal year.

It is learnt that Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Iran, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Maldives are the members of Asian Clearing Union (ACU), with headquarters in Tehran.

ACU is a regional forum where settlement of transactions carried out by its member countries in US dollar, euro and yen.

Bangladesh pays the bills of traders through the ACU for importing goods from these countries after every two consecutive months. The Bangladesh Bank paid US$1 billion through the ACU in the first week of March for import bills of the months of January-February 2020.

The Bangladesh Bank will have to pay the ACU again in the first week of May for the import bills of the months of March-April 2020. The reserves will again fall after the payment of import bills of the member countries through the ACU.

SZA