Bangladesh Bank (BB) yesterday urged global credit rating agency Fitch to reconsider its outlook on Bangladesh, reasoning that the country's economy, especially the external sector, was recovering.

 The central bank made the plea in a meeting with a delegation of the agency at the Bangladesh Bank headquarters.

 A number of credit rating agencies, including Fitch, have continued to downgrade Bangladesh's rating since last year, considering the country's economic situation, especially the decline in foreign exchange reserves.

 In May of last year, Fitch downgraded Bangladesh's long-term foreign-currency issuer default rating to "B+" from "BB-" owing to the lingering weakness of the country's external buffers.

Bangladesh Bank Deputy Governor Zakir Hossain Chowdhury, Executive Director and Spokesperson Arief Hossain Khan, and other officials of the central bank were present at the meeting.

 Md Salim Al Mamun, director (research) of the BB's Chief Economist Unit, presented a paper on the key indicators of the country's economy at the meeting.

 After the meeting, Arief Hossain Khan told The Daily Star that the current situation of the country's economy was presented at the meeting from their end.

 The key indicators of the economy are now improving, which is why they urged Fitch to reconsider its rating on Bangladesh, he added.

 Bangladesh's foreign exchange reserves are above $21 billion, according to the calculations of the International Monetary Fund, and the reserves have been stable for the last few months due to growth in remittance and export earnings.

 Remittance inflow hit $3.29 billion in March, the highest in any single month in the history of Bangladesh.

 The country received $2.27 billion in remittances within just the first 26 days of April.