Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)- The country’s foreign exchange (forex) reserve reached new high of US$12.40 billion on Tuesday thanks to a robust growth of inward remittance as well as decreasing import payment, officials said.
“We expect that the forex reserve may cross the $12.50 billion-mark by the end of this week, following higher growth of inward remittance and lower import payment pressure,” a senior official of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) told BBN in Dhaka.
The forex reserve rose to $12.40 billion on the day, setting a new record, from $12.20 billion of the previous day. It was $12.36 billion on October 29.
Bangladesh received $642 million as remittance between December 01 and December 14 from its nationals working abroad, the BB official said, adding that the flow of inward remittance may touch $1.20 billion by the end of this month.
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.
The overall import in term of settlement of letters of credit (LCs) dropped by 4.21 per cent to $2.615 billion in October 2012 from $2.730 billion of the previous month, according to the central bank statistics.
BBN/SSR/AD-19Dec12-9:50 am (BST)
