Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN) - Bangladesh’s foreign exchange (forex) reserve crossed the US$13 billion-mark for the first time on Monday, thanks to a robust growth of inward remittances as well as lower import payment, officials said.
"The country’s forex reserve has crossed the $13 billion-mark, following higher growth of inward remittances, lower import payment pressure and rising trend of export proceeds realization,” a senior official of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) said, adding that the country will be able to settle five months' import bills with the existing forex reserve, which will also help to keep the country's foreign exchange market stable.
The reserve rose to $13.053 billion on the day, setting a new record, from $12.848 billion of the previous day, according to the central bank statistics.
“The BB is purchasing the US dollar from the commercial banks directly that has also contributed to increasing the forex reserve in the recent days,” the central banker said.
He also said that such intervention may continue to protect the interest of exporters and migrant workers through keeping the exchange rate of local currency against the US dollar stable.
As part of the move, the BB on Monday bought $ 35 million from a state-owned commercial bank at the market rate to keep the inter-bank foreign exchange market stable.
The US dollar was quoted at BDT 79.68-BDT 79.70 in the inter-bank foreign exchange market on the day against BDT 79.70-BDT 79.75 of the previous working day, market operators said.
The BB has so far bought $2.162 billion from the commercial banks in the current fiscal year (FY 2012-13), the BB data showed.
The remittances from Bangladeshi nationals working abroad were estimated at $ 1.285 billion in December last, up by $ 183.15 million from that of the previous month. In November 2012, the remittances were worth $ 1.102 billion, according to the central bank statistics.
More than eight million Bangladeshi overseas workers remitted $ 14.175 billion, a record in the country’s history, in 2012, marking a 16.49 per cent growth over that of the previous calendar year.
On the other hand, the declining trend of overall import payments continued in the recent months, mainly due to lower import of food grains and unnecessary goods including luxurious items.
BBN/SSR/AD-07Jan13-9:27 pm (BST)
