Bangladesh’s forex reserves tumble $500mn in a week: Reports

Media reports underlined this adding this sharp decrease is primarily due to the central bank’s extensive selling of the American dollar to commercial banks.

Hit $19.45 billion on March 27, down from $19.98 billion on March 20.
At beginning of March, reserves surpassed $21 billion.
Growing inflow of remittance, currency swap agreement failed to tackle falling trend of forex reserves, industry insiders claimed.
Depletion of forex reserves highlights challenges in maintaining stability in currency market.

Data from Bangladesh Bank revealed that as of March 27, the reserves of foreign currencies stood at $19.45 billion, down from $19.98 billion on March 20.

Despite efforts to counter this trend, including an influx of remittances ahead of Eid and the implementation of a currency swap agreement with commercial banks, industry insiders expressed concerns that these measures failed to curb the decline in forex reserves.

Notably, at the beginning of March, the reserves had surpassed $21 billion.

However, subsequent events, such as the clearance of a $1.35 billion Asian Clearing Union payment and the central bank’s sale of US dollars to commercial banks, caused the reserves to dip below the $19 billion mark.

Furthermore, the banking watchdog continued to deplete its reserves by selling US dollars to settle import bills of state-run enterprises.

This rapid depletion of forex reserves highlights challenges in maintaining stability in the country’s currency market and underscores the need for strategic measures to address fluctuations.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DR)