Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN) - The country's foreign currency reserve has crossed the $13 billion mark once again, 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 earnings,” a senior official of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) told BBN in Dhaka.
He also said that the country will be able to settle five months' import bills with the existing forex reserve.
The reserve rose to $13.06 on Thursday from $12.94 billion of the previous day, according to the central bank statistics.
On January 7, the foreign currency reserves crossed the $13 billion mark for the first time, but after making payments to the Asian Clearing House, it came down to $12.63 billion on January 15.
“We’re 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.
The BB has so far bought $2.549 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.
The country received $805.37 million in remittance between January 1 and 18, according to the BB officials.
The country's overall import orders increased slightly in December last over the previous month as a significant number of letters of credit (L/Cs) for scrap vessels were opened.
Opening of L/Cs against imports, generally known as import orders, increased by 3.10 per cent to $2.827 billion in December 2012 from $2.742 billion in the previous month, the BB data showed.
On the other hand, the settlement of L/Cs, generally known as actual imports, declined by 3.29 per cent to $2.543 billion in December last from $2.630 billion of the previous level.
The country's overall export grew by 7.01 per cent to $12.60 billion during the first six months of the FY13 despite the global economic meltdown particularly in the European Union and the United States.
BBN/SSR/AD-26Jan13-1:45 pm (BST)
