Image Courtesy : https://en.prothomalo.com Close on the heels of BGMEA President
Close on the heels of BGMEA President Faruque Hassan’s appeal for Government support to sustain Bangladesh’s apparel industry and boost foreign exchange reserves, recent data from the Bangladesh Bank reveals a significant decline of US $ 2 billion in the country’s foreign exchange reserves over just one month.
The data indicates that reserves decreased by US $ 1.91 billion during the initial 26 days of September, with an additional decline of US $ 99 million in the following week.
According to the central bank’s data, foreign exchange reserves stood at US $ 23.06 billion on 31st August and fell to US $ 21.05 billion on 4th October, marking a total reduction of US $ 2.01 billion in 34 days.
Notably, there is an alternative calculation for the net forex reserve, which is disclosed solely to the IMF even if according to this calculation, the country’s current forex reserve is below US $ 17 billion, and it has been declining by US $ 1 billion per month for the past two years.
In general, a country should maintain foreign exchange reserves that can cover three months’ worth of import costs.
Bangladesh is currently approaching a critical threshold in this regard.
Foreign exchange reserves are a vital economic indicator, and the Government has yet to find an effective solution to halt their decline.
It may be mentioned here that one of the major conditions attached to a US $ 4.7 billion loan from the IMF was the maintenance of a net reserve of US $ 24.46 billion in June of the previous year, US $ 25.30 billion in September, and US $ 26.80 billion in December.
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