Staff Reporter :
The country’s gross foreign exchange reserve reached $20.17 billion on 23 December after one and a half months driven by an increase in remittances from overseas workers.
Husne Ara Shikha, spokesperson of Bangladesh Bank confirmed the matter.
The reserve was determined as per IMF formula based on the Balance of Payments and International Investment Position Manual (BPM6).
However, as of BPM5, the gross reserve is $24.99 billion, according to the central bank.
Earlier on Monday, the central bank had informed the media that the gross reserves crossed $20 billion. Later in the evening, the spokesperson said the reserve amount will be $18.56 billion as of 1 December.
Then, at around 7:44pm, Husne Ara Shikha told the media that the original figure was, in fact, correct.
“There were some confusion between the figures of gross remittance and gross reserve.”
Earlier on 6 November, the reserve was $20 billion but it started to decline slowly and dipped below $19 billion in the first week of December.
Despite this dip, the inflow of remittances has provided a crucial boost to the national reserves.
During the first 21 days of December, Bangladesh received $2.07 billion in remittances, a significant rise compared to $1.575 billion and $1.572 billion received in first three weeks of October and November, respectively.
For the fiscal year 2024 (July-November), total remittance inflows amounted to $11.13 billion, which is $2.32 billion, or 26.4 percent, higher than the same period in the previous fiscal year, according to the Bangladesh Bank’s data.
Remittance inflows had declined by 3.2 percent in July, a period marked by political unrest and movements against the government.
However, remittance inflows rebounded in subsequent months, with significant increases of 39 percent in August compared to the same month last year, 80 percent in September, and marking 21 and 14 percent raise in October and November respectively.
Additionally, Bangladesh’s current account deficit has improved largely due to the country has been receiving more than 26 percent remittance flows for the past five months.
Likewise, financial account which used to be negative by almost $2 billion and is now positive by almost $1 billion referring its turnaround more than $2.5 billion.
The foreign exchange reserve remained stable between $19 billion and $20 billion under the interim government due to raising the dollar price to Tk120 aligning with market demand.
Bangladesh Bank also stopped selling dollars from the forex reserve after the fall of Sheikh Hasina government on 5 August.
