Reserves surpass $31 billion

The country's foreign exchange reserves today rose past $31 billion after three multilateral lenders extended $925 million to Bangladesh.

In addition, the higher inflow of remittances ahead of Eid-ul-Azha also played a role in pushing the reserves up.

The reserves stood at $31.15 billion today in contrast to $30.84 billion on Sunday, said a Bangladesh Bank official.

The reserves stood at $41.82 billion at the end of June last year.

Three multilateral lender agencies – Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, International Development Agency, and Asian Development Bank – provided the funds in the form of credits to Bangladesh.

The reserves surpassed the $30-billion mark on June 21.

The BB has so far injected nearly $13.5 billion into the banking sector this fiscal year, which eroded the reserves to a large extent.

The BB official says that the expatriate Bangladeshis are now sending robust remittances ahead of Eid-ul-Azha.

Expatriate Bangladeshis sent remittances amounting to $2.02 billion in the first 25 days of this month whereas it was $1.28 billion in the first 23 days of June last year.

Between July 1 and June 25 this fiscal year, the inflow of remittance stood at $21.43 billion. The figure was $20.48 billion between July 1 and June 23 last fiscal year.

Remittances usually increase centring Eid-ul-Fitr and Eid-ul-Azha – the biggest religious festivals for Muslims – as expatriates send their hard-earned money to their near and dear ones to celebrate the occasions.