Bangladesh’s foreign exchange reserves have once again surpassed $31 billion mark. By the end of the day on Wednesday, gross reserves stood at $31.33 billion, while reserves calculated under IMF’s Balance of Payments and International Investment Position Manual (BPM6) method reached $26.31 billion.
On Sunday, the gross reserve was recorded at $30.86 billion and $25.87 billion under BPM6 standard.
The rise follows a previous dip in early July when Bangladesh paid $2.02 billion to Asian Clearing Union (ACU), causing gross reserves to fall to $29.53 billion and BPM6-based reserves to drop to $24.56 billion.
A significant boost in remittance inflow, increased export earnings and disbursements of loans from international organizations helped push reserves up to $31.72 billion at the end of June; the highest in 28 months. At that time, reserves under BPM6 stood at $26.69 billion.
The last time reserves had fallen below $32 billion threshold was in early March 2023.
Since June 2023, Bangladesh Bank has been reporting reserve figures in line with IMF requirements using BPM6 method. At the start of that period, reserves were at $24.75 billion.
Bangladesh’s reserves had reached a historic high of $48 billion in August 2021.
However, due to various factors, they steadily declined, falling to $20.48 billion by the end of July 2024; just before the fall of previous Awami League-led government.
Since then, stricter controls on capital flight and improved dollar flow have reversed the trend. A sharp decline in illegal hundi transactions contributed to a significant jump in remittance, which rose nearly 27% in 2024–25 fiscal year to $30.33 billion.
As of August 20 of the current fiscal year, $4.12 billion in remittance has already been received; an increase of 19.60% compared to the same period last year.
