Foreign currency reserves of the country are increasing due to remittances. Currently, the reserve has risen to nearly $21 billion (20.85 billion). This information has emerged from the latest updated report of Bangladesh Bank. According to data published by the central bank, as of the 20th of this month, the country’s reserves stand at $20.85 billion or $2,085 crore under the IMF’s BPM-6 accounting system. Meanwhile, according to Bangladesh Bank’s calculations, the gross reserve amount has increased to $26.11 billion or $2,611 crore. Additionally, Bangladesh Bank has another calculation for reserves, known as the usable reserve, which is not officially disclosed by the central bank but is reported to the IMF. This calculation excludes dollars in the IMF’s SDR account, foreign currency held in banks’ clearing accounts, and ACU bills to determine the usable reserves. Under this measure, the country’s actual usable reserves are slightly above $15 billion.
A country must maintain reserves equivalent to at least three months of import costs. The current reserves can cover more than three months of import liabilities. Net reserves are calculated following the IMF’s BPM-6 measurement, where the net or actual reserve is determined by deducting short-term liabilities from the total reserves. Meanwhile, in the first 22 days of February, remittances amounted to $1.93 billion (193 crore dollars), which equals 23,546 crore Bangladeshi Taka. This indicates that February’s total remittances will surpass $2 billion. Previously, in January, the first month of the new year, expatriate Bangladeshis sent $2.19 billion (219 crore dollars) in remittances. Additionally, for six consecutive months since August of the current fiscal year, expatriates have been sending over $2 billion in remittances per month.
Source: The Daily Ittefaq
