Bangladesh’s foreign exchange (forex) reserve on Wednesday crossed the US$35 billion-mark -- for the first time in its history, following lower import payment obligations and steady growth of inward remittance, officials said.
The forex reserve rose to $35.09 billion on the day, setting a new record, from $34.88 billion of the previous working day, according to the central bank's latest data.
“Our forex reserve has crossed the $35 billion-mark following lower import payment pressure on the economy and upward trend of inward remittance in recent days,” a senior official of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) explained.
Foreign loans and assistants have also contributed to obtain the new record of foreign exchange reserve, according to the central banker.
Earlier on June 04, the foreign exchange reserve crossed US$34 billion after a substantial amount of funds was received from a multilateral donor agency.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) had released funds worth $732 million to Bangladesh to address the Covid-19 Pandemic.
With the IMF funds, the forex reserve stood at $34.23 billion on the day from $33.47 billion of the previous working day. Before that, the previous highest reserve amounting to $33.68 billion was recorded on September 05, 2017.