Reserves increased by borrowing $ 507 m from World Bank

Mahfuja Mukul: In a span of two days, the foreign exchange reserves of Bangladesh Bank have increased to more than $30 billion. $507 million received from the World Bank as a budget loan support has been added to the foreign exchange reserves. As a result, it has increased to $3,360 million.
Basically, Bangladesh Bank’s foreign exchange reserves have again exceeded $30 billion. Foreign exchange reserves rose to $336 billion in two days after falling below $30 billion, a central bank official said. Bangladesh Bank Spokesperson Majbaul Haque said that the reserve had dropped below $30 billion after the payment of Accu bill, but the reserve exceeded $30 billion again due to the arrival of dollars from abroad.
Recently, after the Asian Clearing Union paid $118 million, the reserve decreased to $2,983 million. Then again, some loan and grant money came to the country. As a result, the reserves again exceeded $30 billion.
After Corona, the overall economy of the country started to turn around a bit. The crisis erupted again when the Russia-Ukraine war broke out. As a result of this, a dollar crisis occurred in the country’s financial sector from March 2022. Bangladesh Bank imposed restrictions on imports to deal with the pressure. Recently, Bangladesh received a loan of $925 million from three institutions. As a result, the reserve has once again exceeded $31.15 billion. This information is known from the latest updated report published by Bangladesh Bank recently.
According to the data, the reserves increased to $31.15 billion in the working day before the Eid holiday. Earlier on June 15, the reserve was at $29 billion. Recently, Bangladesh received $400 million of ADB budget support. $12.5 million have been received from the World Bank. Recently, some more loans have increased the reserves. The highest reserve in the country’s history crossed the $48 billion mark in August 2021. However, it gradually fell below $30 billion on May 8.
Meanwhile, $1,358 million were sold from the reserve in the current financial year to control the market. As a result, the reserves have decreased by $10.68 billion in the last one year. Those concerned believe that the dollar crisis is not going away quickly due to the foreign investment not coming as expected, the reduction of new trade loans and the pressure of repayment of earlier loans.
According to the data of Bangladesh Bank, in the last financial year 2022-23, $1,358 million have been sold from the reserve. In the previous fiscal year (2021-22), Bangladesh Bank sold a maximum of $7.62 million. However, due to the arrival of remittances in the current month of June, there has been a huge rise. In the first 25 days of the recently departed June, expatriates sent $202 million. From July 1 to June 25 of the current financial year, $2,102 million remittances have arrived in the country. The amount of which is 1.90 percent more than the entire period of the previous financial year. Currently, the amount of reserves stands at $31.15 billion. Last year at the same time the amount of reserves was $41.82 billion.