The country’s forex reserve stood at $20.48 billion on Wednesday as per the BPM6 formula of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), according to the latest data from Bangladesh Bank published on Thursday.
On the same date a year ago, the reserve position was $29.42 billion. Thus, the reserves have decreased by more than $9 billion over the past year.
Since the beginning of FY24, Bangladesh has been suffering from a USD shortage. Several media reports indicate that the country is facing a USD crisis due to rising import payments and money laundering.
As a result of the USD crisis, Bangladesh Bank injected USD from the reserves into the money market. Consequently, reserves have decreased from $48 billion in 2021 to $20 billion currently.
To prevent further depletion of reserves, Bangladesh Bank introduced the crawling peg system this year in accordance with IMF terms. The USD price was initially set at Tk 117, but on Thursday, it rose to Tk 120.
The reserve crisis is a contributing factor to the economic crisis in Bangladesh. To address this issue, the interim government has decided to publish a white paper, which will focus on the reserve crisis among other issues.
Remittance inflow sees 36% growth
Bangladesh's inward remittance inflow has seen a significant 36 per cent increase, amounting to $406 million in the first 20 days of August compared to the same period last year.
During this period, Bangladesh received a total of $1.5 billion in inward remittances, up from $1.12 billion during the same time last year.
Central bank data also reveals that on Tuesday alone, expatriates sent $109 million.
