Forex reserve still above 18b mark

UNB, Dhaka :
The country’s foreign exchange reserve is still maintaining an over 18-billion mark remaining at $18,160.61 million as of January 28 this year.
The foreign currency reserve also witnessed a rise of $5,117.94 million from the $13,042.67 million registered on January 28 last year, according to statistics released by the Bangladesh Bank on Thursday.
Earlier, on December 19, 2013, Bangladesh’s foreign currency reserves crossed the $18-billion mark for the first time in the country’s history due to strong remittance flow and rising export income.
The inter-bank exchange rate on taka-dollar showed that the Taka gained slightly as it was trading at Tk 77.7508 against the dollar on January 28 against Tk 77.7512 on December 30 last year.
According to the BB statistics, revenue collection by the National Board of Revenue (NBR) during the first half (July-Dec) period of the current fiscal marked an encouraging 12.20 percent growth to stand at Tk 50,338.29 crore.
Remittances from the Bangladeshi wage earners abroad stood at $6,778.57
million during the first half (July-Dec) of the current fiscal (2013-14), a downtrend of 8.42 percent over $7,401.78 million during the corresponding period of the previous fiscal (2012-13).
The statistics available from the central bank on Thursday showed that the country’s remittance maintained a negative trend in December, registering a 5.50 percent fall to fetch $1,216.49 million compared to $1,287.31 million in December 2012.
The current account balance is in a moderate position as it was $1,384 million during the July-November period of the current fiscal compared to $433 million during the corresponding period of the previous fiscal year.
Buoyed by the moderate performances of the RMG, leather and leather products exports maintained a growth of 16.56 percent during this July-December period totalling $14,685.81 million.
The central bank statistics also showed that during the July-November period of the current fiscal, L/Cs worth $15,455.46 million for food grains, capital machinery, petroleum, industrial raw materials were opened, while L/Cs worth $14,548.43 million settled.
The statistics showed that the disbursement of agricultural credit during this July-December period was Tk 7,450.25 crore while the recovery was Tk 8,352.67 crore.