Forex reserve crosses $48b, a new record

Bangladesh's foreign exchange reserve today hit a record high of $48 billion after managing a financial support from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The Washington-based multilateral lender yesterday provided $1.44 billion to Bangladesh under the special drawing rights (SDR).

The SDR is an international reserve asset created by the IMF to supplement the official reserves of its member countries. 

The SDR is not a currency. It is a potential claim on the freely usable currencies of the IMF members.  

The reserves, one of the major macroeconomic indicators of an economy, went up 23 per cent in the last one year to stand at $39.04 billion as of August last year, according to data from the central bank.

A strong inflow of remittance has also helped the country build up its foreign exchange reserve, said an official of Bangladesh Bank.

Bangladeshi diasporas sent home $24.78 billion in fiscal 2020-21, the highest on record given a single year, in contrast to $18.20 billion a year ago, Bangladesh Bank data showed.