Forex reserves dip below USD 37b

Staff Reporter :
Country’s forex reserves are now down to USD 36.90 billion, despite the central bank’s measures of reducing imports, and currency diversification in foreign trade.
The reserves was about USD 37 billion a day ago. The latest data of Bangladesh Bank says it. According to the data of Bangladesh Bank, forex reserves on Wednesday stood at USD 36.90 billion, which was USD 37.08 billion on Monday.
As per the data of the central bank, the country’s reserves stood at USD 46.19 billion in September last year.
The reserves slid after the central bank sold USD 70 million to several banks on Thursday for facilitating them for payment of import bills.
The central bank has been selling dollars from the reserves in continuation of last fiscal year to bring stability in the forex market.
Bangladesh Bank has so far injected more than USD three billion into the market in this financial year after supplying a record amount of USD 7.62 billion in the last fiscal year, the data showed.
In the first week of this month, the reserves fell to USD 37.06 billion as the Asian Clearing Union (ACU) cleared its July-August arrears of USD 1.74 billion.
As of August 25 last year, the reserves were USD 48.60 billion.
According to that, the reserve has decreased by USD 11.5 billion in one year.
Experts said, this is happening due to the selling pressure of US dollars for opening LCs and the surge of individual demand to meet travel, medical treatment, and tuition fees for foreign universities.
The central bank’s data showed also that country’s imports surged to USD 5.86 billion in July in this fiscal year, up 23.2pc from the previous year.
Exports grew 14pc to USD 3.9 billion and remittance flow rose 11.76pc to USD 2.09 billion in the period.