Curbing import expenses key challenge, says Kamal

Finance minister AHM Mustafa Kamal has termed the containment of the soaring import expenses challenging, which put the foreign-exchange reserves under pressure.
"….along with containing inflation, maintaining imports at a reasonable volume and keeping foreign reserves stable would be a great challenge for us," he says.
Mr Kamal made the observations in his speech during the presentation of the national budget for fiscal year 2022-23 on Thursday.
The minister's observations came against the backdrop of higher import payment obligations following the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war.
Regarding pressure on the forex market, he says, citing a stress on the exchange rate originating from the increased demand for US dollar in the local market.
"To manage this crisis," Mr Kamal adds, "Bangladesh Bank released $6.08 billion up to 01 June 2022 in the local foreign-exchange market."
In October 2021, the amount of forex reserves was $48 billion, which has now declined to $42 billion.
Besides, Bangladesh taka (BDT) is depreciating against dollar.
Since July 01 of the current fiscal year to 06 June 2022, BDT depreciated against dollar by around 7.9 per cent, according to the minister.

siddique.islam@gmail.com