Country's foreign exchange (forex) reserves crossed US$31- billion mark again Tuesday as export earnings tipped the balance against import-payment pressures on the economy, officials said.
The forex reserves rose to $31.09 billion on the day from $30.97 billion of the previous working day. It was $31.16 billion on September 01.
The reserves came down to $30.84 billion on September 15 after a routine payment of US$ 815 million to the Asian Clearing Union (ACU) against imports during the July-August period of the current calendar year from $31.50 billion of the previous working day.
"Our reserves crossed the $31-billion mark again following higher realisation of export proceeds by the exporters and upward trend in inward remittance due to the Eid-ul-Azha festival," a senior official of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) told the FE Wednesday.
He said Bangladesh can settle more than eight months' import bills with the reserves the country now holds in its coffer.
Overall import by the country decreased in terms of value, not volume, following lower prices of commodities, particularly petroleum products, on the global market, according to the central banker.
The overall import dropped by 18.42 per cent to $2.80 billion in July, the first month of the current fiscal year (FY), 2016-17, from $3.44 billion during the same period of the previous fiscal mainly due to lower imports of capital machinery.
Stable exchange rate of the local currency against the US dollar encouraged the expatriate Bangladeshis to send their hard-earned money home that also helped boost the country's foreign-currency reserves, the BB official also said.
siddique.islam@gmail.com
Forex reserves cross $31b mark again
Siddique Islam | Published: September 22, 2016 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00
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