Forex reserve nears USD 32b

Bangladesh received USD 800 million in remittances in the first eight days of this month.

In addition, the Bangladesh Bank purchased a total of USD 107 million from 10 local banks last Thursday.

With that, the country’s forex reserve now stands at nearly USD 32 billion (USD 31.34 billion). However, according to the IMF’s BPM-6 accounting method, the reserve stands at USD 27.12 billion, Bangladesh Bank sources said.

According to Bangladesh Bank data, the country’s total reserves stood at USD 31.5 billion as of Sunday (5 October). Under the IMF’s BPM-6 accounting method, the reserve that day was USD 26.62 billion. As a result, the reserve increased further by the end of last week compared to 5 October.

In the first three months of the current fiscal, Bangladesh Bank purchased over USD 2 billion from commercial banks through 14 auctions. The exchange rate at the auctions was Tk 121.80 per dollar, conducted under the multiple price auction method.

Meanwhile, expatriate income has maintained a positive trend for the past year. In September alone, expatriates sent USD 2.69 billion to Bangladesh—an increase of USD 165 million from the previous month.

Remittance hit a record high in March, with USD 3.29 billion sent home—the highest for any single month so far. Since then, monthly inflows have not crossed USD 3 billion. The rise in remittance is attributed to a decline in money laundering and illegal hundi transactions, as well as a stable dollar exchange rate through banking channels, which has encouraged the use of legal routes.