Bangladesh Bank said that the country’s foreign exchange reserves have exceeded 24 billion dollars.
Bangladesh Bank (BB) spokesperson Husne Ara Shikha said this in a video message on Tuesday.
He said, ‘According to the latest data, the amount of foreign exchange reserves is 24.3 billion dollars. This is around $20 billion as per IAF’s BPM-6 calculation standard.’
Net reserves are calculated as per International Monetary Fund’s BPM-6 measure. Subtracting current liabilities from total reserves gives the amount of net or actual reserves. The central bank released data on central bank reserves from July 2023 after IMF loan approval.
Referring to the increasing amount of reserves, spokesperson Shikha said, ‘It is possible to prevent the reduction of foreign exchange reserves as remittances are increasing. Reserves have increased by 60 percent in this financial year compared to last financial year.
He also said, ‘If we consider the growth of August and July together, it is about 90 percent growth. Interbank foreign exchange transactions are enabled. Banks can trade among themselves if they want and the exchange rate will be market based.’
He said, ‘currently the price of the dollar is 118 to 120 taka. The difference between the dollar price in the banking channel and the open market price is now less than one percent.
Shikha said, ‘We believe that the foreign exchange market or dollar price will stabilize if active interbank transactions are maintained.