Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN) – The pressure on foreign exchange reserve has been easing recently due mainly to lower import payments and an improving trend in the inflow of remittances, along with export proceeds’ repatriation.

“The country’s foreign exchange reserve is now improving its position without receiving any foreign funds,” a senior official at the Bangladesh Bank (BB) said, adding that the foreign exchange reserve rose to US$ 10.340 billion on Thursday from $10.330 billion on the previous working day.

It was $10.05 billion on July 10 after making a routine payment of $837 million to the Asian Clearing Union (ACU) against imports during May-June period of this calendar year, the central bank officials said.

“We expect that the forex reserve will be around $11.0 billion again by the end of August this year,” said the BB official, adding that the forex reserve hit all-time high at $11.115 billion on September 7 last year.

The country’s overall import fell slightly in June last following a significant rise in import of essentials in the previous month to meet their growing demand during the month of Holy Ramadan.

Opening of fresh letters of credit (LCs) against imports, generally known as import orders, fell by nearly 19 per cent in June 2011 over that of the previous month of the current calendar year.

The settlement of LCs, generally known as actual imports, dropped by 12.42 per cent during the period under review over that of the previous month of this year, according to the central bank statistics.

The import LCs worth $2.659 billion were opened in June this year, compared to $3.270 billion in May 2011, while the LCs against imports worth $2.636 billion were settled in June against $3.011 billion in May last, the BB’s data showed.

Bangladesh Taka (BDT) has appreciated marginally against the US dollar in the recent days at customers’ level due mainly to lower import payment pressure.

The US dollar was quoted at BDT 75.02 on Thursday for bills for collection (BC) selling to open letters of credit (LC) against imports. It was at a maximum of BDT 75.18 on July 13 last, according to the Bangladesh Foreign Exchange Dealers Association (BAFEDA) data.

“The local currency has appreciated slightly against the US dollar owing mainly to an increasing trend of inflow of foreign exchange in the market,” the BB official said.

He also said an improving trend in export proceeds’ realization and in inward remittances has pushed up the overall inflow of foreign exchange in the market.

The central bank earlier asked the commercial banks to take necessary measures to accelerate repatriation of their export proceeds to help meet the growing demand for foreign exchange funds in the market.

BBN/SSR/SI-23July11-1:20 pm (BST)