Business Report :
Bangladesh has successfully met the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) net international reserves (NIR) target just days before the deadline, thanks to the central bank’s strategy to conserve and boost its dollar reserves.
As part of a stabilization package for the country’s economy, the IMF initially set a target for Bangladesh to maintain $20.11 billion in NIR by the end of June. However, after a recent review in Dhaka, the IMF revised the target down to $14.78 billion. According to the latest data from the Bangladesh Bank (BB), the NIR stood at approximately $15.8 billion on June 27, surpassing the IMF’s target by $1 billion.
At the beginning of June, the NIR was below $13 billion, causing significant concern for the central bank ahead of receiving the third tranche of a $4.70 billion loan from the IMF. To meet the NIR goal, the central bank adopted a strategy focused on conserving foreign exchange and securing funds from international lenders.
The central bank also cautioned about selling US dollars to commercial banks to preserve foreign exchange, while a significant portion of the Export Development Fund (EDF) was realized recently. This two-pronged approach of boosting inflows and controlling outflows of dollars has helped raise the dollar stock.
To further increase the inflow of dollars, the central bank intensified efforts to attract funds from multilateral agencies such as the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank (ADB), and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). This effort brought in more than $2 billion from development partners, including $500 million from the World Bank and $400 million from the AIIB.
