Bangladesh’s net foreign exchange reserve has risen to $16 billion, exceeding the $14.7 billion target set for June by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), according to the Bangladesh Bank.
As of June 30, the gross reserve stood at $21.83 billion, up from $19.4 billion on June 26, based on the Balance of Payments and International Investment Position Manual (BPM6), reported Bangladesh Bank spokesperson Md Mezbaul Haque. The net reserve, representing readily available cash, is calculated by excluding short-term liabilities from the gross reserve as per the IMF formula based on BPM6.
This is the first time Bangladesh has surpassed the IMF target since the approval of a $4.7 billion loan package by the multilateral lender in February last year. In April, the net reserve had fallen below the threshold to $12.8 billion from $19.6 billion at the end of June 2023, according to the IMF’s second review report under the loan package.
However, Bangladesh’s achievement of the IMF’s June target has come at the cost of import compression, which has slowed down the country’s economic growth and fueled inflation due to rising fuel costs. The country’s imports declined by 15.42% in the first nine months of the outgoing fiscal year FY24, according to Bangladesh Bank data.
