Foreign exchange reserves have dropped below $21 billion again after Bangladesh Bank (BB) paid around $1.27 billion of the Asian Clearing Union (ACU) bills for the months of November and December on Monday.
Foreign currency reserves--adjusted on Tuesday in line with the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) BPM6 method--dropped to $20.38 billion.
However, gross reserves stood at $25.65 billion, according to the central bank.
BB spokesperson and Executive Director Mezbaul Haque told The Business Post on Tuesday that the central bank paid $1.27 billion as ACU payment on Monday and gross reserves stood at $25.65 billion.
A senior BB official, requesting anonymity, told The Business Post on Tuesday that reserves stood at $20.38 billion as per BPM6 method after ACU payment.
Muntaseer Kamal, research fellow of Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), told The Business Post, “Forex exchange reserves have been declining since 2022, and the central bank couldn’t meet the reserves’ condition set by International Monetary Fund in last December.”
The central bank will have to follow the IMF’s condition in future as well, he said, adding that the amount of remittance has to be boosted, and the central bank has to take necessary steps in this regard.
Earlier, reserves stood at $21.74 billion on December 3 as per the BPM6 method while gross reserves were $26.99 billion.
The ACU is an arrangement to settle payments for intra-regional transactions among its member countries, including Bangladesh.
Country’s gross forex reserves were $29.20 billion and as per the BPM6 method, the amount was $23.06 billion on August 30, according to the BB data.
A senior BB official, asking not to be named said, “The central bank is continuing to sell US dollars to banks facilitating import bills and it is impacting forex reserves despite initiatives to halt its steady decline.”
Banks, especially state-run ones, are getting USD support to settle import payments of government entities, such as the Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation, Bangladesh Agricultural Development Corporation, and Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation.
Due to the dollar crisis, the central bank sold around $14 billion to commercial banks for facilitating LC openings in fiscal year 2022-23. After that, the central bank took many steps to bring the dollar market under control.
However, the central bank sold $6.70 billion in the July-December period of FY24.
The USD rate was Tk 84.80 on July 26 last year. Since then, Bangladesh has been witnessing the dollar crisis and taka has depreciated continuously against the greenback.
