For the first time, Bangladesh Bank has published the information of net reserves. As of July 2, net foreign exchange reserves stood at 16.77 billion dollars. International Monetary Fund (IMF) 4.7 billion dollar loan agreement implementation net reserves till June
The condition was to keep at least $14.7 billion. Bangladesh Bank was able to fulfill that condition.
Bangladesh Bank’s Executive Director and Spokesperson Majbaul Haque said in writing on Tuesday, ‘Net reserves stood at 16.77 billion dollars as of July 2. However, according to the IMF-approved BPM6 system, the amount of reserves is now 21.77 billion dollars. And the gross reserve is 26.88 billion dollars.
Net reserves are calculated according to International Monetary Fund (IMF) accounting method BPM6. Subtracting short-term liabilities from gross or total reserves gives the amount of net or actual reserves.
Bangladesh Bank has never published the information of net reserves before. However, the media has been writing from reliable sources for a long time. The central bank has been releasing BPM6 reserves data since July 2023 after approving a $4.7 billion loan from the IMF.
Bangladesh surpassed the IMF target for the first time since the multilateral lender approved a $4.7 billion loan package in February last year.
Policy Research Institute (PRI) Executive Director Ahsan H. Mansoor said, ‘Increasing the policy rate or repo interest rate has a positive effect on the economy. Because the flow of remittances has been increasing for several months. June also saw the highest remittances in years. However, if import expenditure is reduced and reserves are retained, inflation will increase. So it will not be right to reduce the cost of imports. It increases the price of goods. The central bank should also pay attention to the fact that there is no hardship in the life of the common people.’
Bangladesh received $1.15 billion of the third installment of the IMF loan under the agreement on June 27. A total of 900 million dollars has been released from South Korea, IBRD (International Bank for Reconstruction and Development) and IDB (Islamic Development Bank). In all, 2.05 billion dollars have been added to the reserves. It has exceeded 26 and a half billion dollars as reserve gross of Bangladesh.