Foreign exchange reserves go above $20 billion again

The foreign exchange reserves of Bangladesh have gone above $20 billion again, according to central bank data.

The export earnings and flow of inward remittances marking Eid-ul-Fitr contributed to the increase in foreign exchange reserves, local news portals said.

According to the Bangladesh Bank's calculation based on the International Monetary Fund's Balance of Payments and International Investment Position Manual (BPM6), the foreign exchange reserves reached $20.11 as of April 8. The figure was $19.45 billion on March 27.

Meanwhile, the gross reserves were $25.39 billion as of April 8 and $24.81 as of March 27.

However, the gross amount of country’s foreign exchange reserves was $31.20 billion during this period last year.

Last month, The Financial Express said in a report that the gross volume of forex reserves in Bangladesh Bank's calculation rose to $26.17 billion as on March 5, from $25.16 billion recorded on February 19, with the central bank having booked around US$1.0 billion from commercial banks in just seven days of deals under the currency-swap window.

In accordance with IMF's BPM6 arithmetic, the gross reserves rose to $20.98 billion until March 5 from the February-19 count of $19.97 billion.