Home ›› 30 May 2022 ›› Stock
Many are worried about the recent rise of the US dollar against the taka and the bankruptcy of Sri Lanka but the situation is not alarming for Bangladesh as the country is in a safe state, analysts say.
The higher import payments were putting pressure on the foreign exchange reserves. Bangladesh had a record $48.02 billion in August last year, enough to pay import bills for up to one year, but a steady decline has brought it down to the current around $42 billion.
Analysts were speaking at an event on “Bangladesh in the context of the current global economy” organised by the Bangladesh Academy for Securities Market (BASM) at the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) in Dhaka on Sunday.
Speaking at the event, Dhaka School of Economics and Palli Karma-Sahayak Foundation Chairman Dr Kazi Khaliquzzaman Ahmed said Bangladesh has enough foreign exchange reserves to meet the needs of both importers and exporters. “There is nothing to be worried about the current state of reserve.”
BSEC Chairman Professor Shibli Rubayat-Ul-Islam, “Sri Lanka is in trouble with US2 billion. In contrast, we get USD2 billion in a month from just one sector. But a vested quarter is out to make the country unstable. It's not understandable. We have no reason to be afraid of the dollar crisis.”
“If we can check the hundi traders, then USD5-10 billion dollars can be saved,” he said
BSEC Commissioner Shaikh Shamsuddin Ahmed said, “The prices of various commodities, including fuel, have risen worldwide for many reasons, including Covid-19 and Ukraine war. There are rumors and misinterpretations about it in the market now. We need to check the rumors and misinterpretations.”
In an assessment, when the reserve was at $44 billion by end of last fiscal, the International Monetary Fund claimed that the Bangladesh Bank overstated its reserves by $7.2 billion through the inclusion of non-reserve assets underestimating related risks, leading to an inflated reserve estimate.
