Bangladesh's foreign exchange reserves stood at $19.94 billion as of January 31, as per the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) BPM6 method, according to Bangladesh Bank data.
The central bank updated its forex reserve data on Sunday. The amount was $20.02 billion on January 24.
However, the gross reserve stood at $25.09 billion on January 31, according to updated central bank data.
Bangladesh Bank started following international standards in calculating foreign exchange reserves as per a condition set by the IMF for a $4.7 billion loan approved for Bangladesh last year to mitigate the forex crunch.
Since 2012, IMF member countries have been calculating reserves with the Balance of Payments and Investment Position Manual (BPM6). But BB has taken over a decade to implement it.
Reserves calculated as per the BPM6 method are not the net or actual reserves of Bangladesh. Several short-term liabilities, including SDRs from IMF, are excluded in calculating net reserves. According to that, Bangladesh's net reserves are now around $20 billion.
An analysis of Balance of Payment (BoP) data clearly indicates that the government has been mostly unable to curb the steady loss of foreign exchange reserves.
