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Saturday | May 02, 2026 | Dhaka

Forex reserves stand at $23.45b as per IMF

 New Nation
 Published: 12:00 AM, 24 July 2023

Staff Reporter :
Bangladesh’s foreign exchange reserves stand at $23.45 billion according to the BPM6 (Balance of Payments and International Investment Position) method recognized by the IMF, according to Bangladesh Bank.

However, according to the gross reserve calculation, Bangladesh’s forex reserves stand at $29.85 billion, according to data published by the central bank on Sunday.

Earlier, in July 13 the figure was $29.97 billion and in June this year the gross reserve stood at $31.203 billion while in July last year the amount of forex reserve was $39.59 billion.

The country’s foreign exchange reserve has been falling for more than a year due to higher import payments and lowers than expected export earnings and remittance inflows.

Meanwhile, The IMF introduced the BPM6 manual in 2012, but the central bank so far did not comply with it fully, which helped its forex reserves look higher than actual, prompting the government to use it for different infrastructural projects.

According to BPM6 calculation, the Bangladesh Bank had to exclude foreign currency loans to local banks, known as the Export Development Fund (EDF); deposits with state-owned local banks; deposits with the IDB Group; fixed-income securities below investment grade; a loan to Sri Lanka; and other foreign currency assets in non-convertible currencies from its previous gross reserves figure to come to the actual reserves figure.

On the other hand, the net reserve, which refers to the amount readily available for intervention in the foreign exchange market, stood at $20.22 billion as per the new calculation, which can cover imports for less than three months.

However, the Bangladesh Bank has decided not to make the net reserves figure public.
The IMF says the central bank must exclude the reserve-related liabilities to estimate the net reserves.

The multilateral donor also set the floor on net reserves at $24.46 billion for June as a performance criterion of the central bank for the $4.7 billion loan package.