Bangladesh forex reserves rise to $33.37b

Bangladesh’s foreign exchange reserves rose to $33.37 billion at the end of February, $680 million more than the previous month, the central bank said on Monday.

The reserves were up nearly 2.5 percent from a year earlier, and are sufficient to cover about 10 months’ worth of imports for the country of 160 million people.

Steady garment exports and remittances from Bangladeshis working overseas - the key drivers of the country’s more-than $250 billion economy - have helped foreign exchange reserves grow steadily in recent years.

Bangladesh’s economic growth hit a record 7.28 per cent in the 2016-17 financial year, up from 7.11 per cent a year ago.