The country's foreign exchange (forex) reserve crossed the $28 billion-mark for the first time Thursday.
The reserve stood at $28.06 billion on the day after making a payment worth $186 million as member quota allocation to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), a senior official of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) said.
It was $27.05 billion on October 29 last.
"The forex reserve has crossed the mark due mainly to higher export earnings and upward trend of inward remittance," Kazi Sayedur Rahman, general manager of the Forex Reserve and Treasury Management Department of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) told the FE.
Mr. Rahman also said the country will be able to settle more than seven months import bills with the existing forex reserve.
Lower prices of commodities particularly petroleum products in the global market have also helped to raise the country's forex reserve, the central banker explained.
Besides, purchasing of the US dollar from the commercial banks has contributed to increasing the forex reserve recently, according to another BB official.
The central bank continues to buy the greenback from the banks to help keep the inter-bank forex market stable.
As part of the move, the BB purchased $40 million from seven commercial banks Thursday to protect the interests of both exporters and migrant workers by keeping the exchange rate of the local currency against the greenback stable.
A total of $2.56 billion was bought from the commercial banks between July 2 and February 25 of the current fiscal year (FY) 2015-16 as part of the BB's intervention in the market.
Bangladesh received $ 827.26 million as remittances between February 01 and February 19 from Bangladeshi nationals who are working abroad, according to the central bank's latest statistics.
In January 2016, the inflow of remittance was $1.15 billion.
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