The reserves of foreign exchange reached a new height of $28 billion yesterday.
The new reserves record is attributed to lower import cost amid fall in oil and food prices in the global market, said Kazi Sayedur Rahman, general manager of Forex Reserves and Treasury Management Department of Bangladesh Bank.
The growth of export and remittance also payed a part in making the record, he added.
The reserves will remain up to $28 billon till ACU (Asian Clearing Union) payment of January-February period in first week of March, said Sayedur.
Earlier on October 29 last year, foreign exchange reserves crossed $27 billion for the first time.
The current reserves termed to be the second highest among SAARC countries just after India are good enough to meet the country’s import expenditures for the next seven months.
The import expenditure rose by 5.77% to $3.20 billion in November last year compared to $3 billon in the same period of the previous year.
Bangladesh Bank in its recent monetary policy expected 14% growth in imports and 7.5% in exports.
The remittance dropped by 12.23% to $1.15 billion in January from $1.31 billion in December last year.
Earlier in October last year, remittance experienced a 19.42% drop, and later it recovered slowly in last two months of the year.
But at the beginning of 2016, remittance fell back to downturn, eroding the recovery.
