Forex reserve up by $400m in a week

The country’s foreign exchange reserves grew by around $400 million to more than $42 billion in a week ended May 18 on remittance inflow, Bangladesh Bank data showed.

In the previous week ended May 10, the reserves had declined by $2.24 billion to almost $41 billion. It touched a lifetime high of $48 billion in August last year.

“The reserve position bounced back because of higher remittance inflow in the current month (May),” BB spokesperson Serajul Islam told The Business Post.

From May 5 to 19, the expatriates remitted $1.31 billion, according to the BB.

Islam hopes that if this trend continues, remittance inflow may exceed the month of April when the country received $2.01 billion.

Generally, the flow of remittances increases ahead of Ramadan and Eid. Remittance inflows normally increased in April and early May due to the festival.

After the ease of the pandemic, the import payment has risen as the economy has turned around and the Ukraine-Russia war has pushed up prices in international markets.

The reserves slid after the payment of import bills worth $2.24 billion through the Asian Clearing Union.

However, the present reserves are sufficient to pay more than five months of import bills.