Bangladesh’s foreign exchange reserves were at $22 billion on Thursday as per the BPM6 method of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), according to the Bangladesh Bank (BB) spokesperson.
The figure was $ 19.47 billion last Wednesday (June 26) in line with the BPM6 method.
However, the gross reserves stood at $27.15 billion on Friday, BB spokesperson and Executive Director Mezbaul Haque confirmed The Business Post.
He said the gross reserves amount has crossed $27 billion as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has provided $1.15 billion in loans. “We also received around $900 million from other sources like South Korea, International Bank for Reconstruction and Development and Islamic Development Bank.”
BB 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 took 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.
The country’s forex reserves have been decreasing since September 2021 despite various initiatives of the government to reverse the trend.
The latest improvement in the forex reserves situation comes a month after BB relinquished its control over the rate-setting mechanism and introduced a more flexible exchange rate regime.
