The country’s foreign exchange reserves hit a record $40 billion amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
The reserve reached $40 billion for the first time on Thursday, said Bangladesh Bank executive director Kazi Sayedur Rahman.
He said the increasing flow of remittance and enhanced aid from development partners contributed to the rise in forex reserves.
It is possible to meet the import payment of ten months with the current foreign currency reserve, the BB official said.
Earlier, foreign exchange reserves exceeded $39 billion on September 01, this year.
At the end of March, the reserve was $32.39 billion, when the coronavirus pandemic first hit the country. Then it increased by $7.61 billion to $40 billion on October 08.
Remittance inflow has played a vital role behind the surge in foreign exchange reserves, said a high official of the BB, adding that the government’s initiative of issuing a 2% cash incentive against inward remittances had also played a vital role.
The reserves reached $37.1 billion in July while it hit the $34 billion, $35 billion, and $36 billion marks in June.
The previous highest reserves were recorded on September 5, 2017, when the amount was $33.68 billion.
Remittance inflow increased by 48.45% to $6.71 billion in the July-September period of the current fiscal year, compared to the same period of the last fiscal year, as per BB data.
Former lead economist at the World Bank Dhaka office Zahid Hussain said Bangladeshi expatriates were sending more money to their relatives as most of their relatives had lost their sources of income.
Besides, a huge number of Bangladeshis had sent all their savings to their families before they returned home, he remarked.
Most expatriates had sent their hard–earned money through banking channels instead of hundi owing to the pandemic, which had also boosted the remittance earnings, he explained.
