Reserve hits record $35b, dollar price drops due to import sags
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The country’s forex reserve reached an all-time most of $35.09 billion on Wednesday amid falling import obligations and moderate inflow of remittance.
The reserve struck the new record in only 20 times of hitting the $34-billion tag on June 3 this season.
Bangladesh Lender spokesperson and executive director Md Serajul Islam told MODERN that the forex reserve attained the $35-billion milestone.
‘It’s mainly as a result of the steady remittance inflow found in June that has taken the country’s reserve to the $35-billion tag,’ Serajul said, adding that the fall found in import payments specifically for the luxurious products had helped the united states attain the landmark.
Riding on the surplus way to obtain the dollar about the neighborhood market, the central bank features allowed devaluation of the dollar a lttle bit in last two days.
On June 17, the interbank exchange rate of the dollar was Tk 84.95.
The rate has slowly but surely declined and the BB purchased a dollar at Tk 84.8024 on Wednesday.
The purchase of us dollars by the BB would cause increased regional currency supply in the bank operating system.
The country’s reserve increased due primarily to the collapse in imports amid the coronavirus pandemic, Policy Research Institute executive director Ahsan H Mansur told MODERN on Wednesday.
He said a decline in fuel costs on the global industry, back-to-back letters of credit against export orders, industrial goods import and finally the local consumption as a result of people’s dismal earnings through the coronavirus pandemic entirely had brought down the country’s import payment drastically.
Besides, the united states received foreign loans from multinational organisations lately that also helped the country’s reserve to reach the $35-billion mark, said Mansur, also chairman of BRAC Bank.
Although, both export and import declined during the coronavirus outbreak, the quantity of import fall was higher than the export fall, piling up reserve, he said.
‘Accumulation of foreign reserve so isn't expected and it’s not a good sign for the economy,’ Ahsan said.
He also predicted that the country’s reserve would continue steadily to increase by $500 million to $1 billion per month before situation became normal.
Ahsan, however, said that the central bank should utilise the scope for building up reserve and the reserve would support the foreign traders to gain confidence while considering Bangladesh as an investment destination.
Besides, the central lender shouldn't allow appreciation of the taka against the dollar, he said, adding, ‘Otherwise exporters would lose competitiveness on the global industry in future.’
If the united states manages to build up a reserve that would be sufficient for 10-12 weeks by taking the scope, it might be supportive for the firms also, he said.
The previous best reserve was recorded in September 5 in 2017 and the total amount was $33.68 billion, in line with the BB data.
The official of the central bank said that the BB had been purchasing the us dollars from the banking institutions with a view to keeping exchange level of a dollar at Tk 84.95.
Source: https://www.newagebd.net
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