Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN) - The central bank of Bangladesh profits shot up by 95.43 percent in the last fiscal year due mainly to prudent utilization of foreign exchange investments, officials said.
The Bangladesh Bank (BB), the country’s central bank, earned BDT 25.17 billion profits in the fiscal 2010-11 (FY11) against BDT 12.88 billion of the previous fiscal, according to the central bank statistics.
“The central bank has earned substantially from both domestic and foreign sources in the last fiscal year,” a BB senior official told BBN in Dhaka, adding that the central bank will give BDT 16.64 billion to the government shortly after appropriation of its profits in FY11.
The interest gain from investment in local banks and the government is referred to as a domestic source of profit. While the interest earned from investments of foreign currency reserves in commercial and central banks abroad is known as the earning from foreign sources.
The income from foreign sources increased by 126.15 percent to BDT 9.64 billion in FY11 from BDT 4.26 billion of the previous fiscal year, the BB data showed.
“Higher interest rate has augmented our income from foreign sources,” the BB official said, adding that the weighted average interest rate was 1.78 percent in 2011 globally compared to 0.87 percent of the previous year.
The BB’s earnings from domestic sources rose to BDT 19.41 billion in the last fiscal from BDT 12.16 billion in FY10.
The central bank has earned substantially from domestic sources in FY11 due mainly to higher government borrowing from the central bank along with repo operation, the central bank officials said.
Besides, revaluation gain from gold, sliver and foreign currency stood at BDT 74.38 billion in FY11 from deficit of BDT 19.32 billion of the previous fiscal.
The fund from revaluation gains will be kept undistributed as a cushion against any volatility in the international market, the central bank officials added.
BBN/SSR/AD-22Aug11-12:01 pm (BST)