Forex reserves hit new high of $3.9b
BB moves to steady dollar at Tk69
Rejaul Karim Byron
Country's foreign exchange reserves hit a new high of $ 3.9 billion yesterday as the remittance inflow marked a 30 percent growth during the first six months of the current fiscal year, according to the Bangladesh Bank (BB) sources.In view of the average remittance inflow, the growth is seen significant compared to it in the same period last fiscal, although such a flow came down slightly to $534.20million in December from $598.29million in November this fiscal. The BB sources said high remittance inflow and huge export earnings contributed to a healthy foreign reserve of $3957.84million. But the reserve will fall today or tomorrow on Bangladesh's payment of an amount as big as $335million of export-import bill to the Asian Clearing Union (ACU). Meanwhile, the central bank is keeping a cautious watch on the trend of money market as it has observed that the reserves have also upped the value of taka against dollar. It is also found that the supply side of foreign exchange does not cope with the slightly slow demand side because of political unrest in the country. This, it is assumed, may result in a significant drop in price of dollar in the local money market. To prevent such a fall in the currency price, the BB has already purchased 60 million dollars from the money market. The central bank offers Tk69 per dollar to commercial banks. The BB said if the dollar price goes below Tk69, exporters might face a setback, so the offer is made for the commercial banks with a view to steadying the price of the greenback at Tk69. Earlier, the country's remittance hit a record high in a single month as it reached US$ 598 million in November. As per the BB sources, the remittance also marked a surge in December as the overseas workers sent money on the occasion of Eid-ul-Azha. But the reserves may cross $4 billion-mark before the ACU payment if the remittance flow continues, the sources also assumed. The overall remittance rose to $ 2840 million in the July-December period in FY 2006-07, posting a strong 30 percent rise over the same period last fiscal, which was $2178million. According to the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB), in the fiscal 2005-06, Bangladesh exported goods worth $10.52 billion, registering a 21 percent growth. The export is also rising this fiscal with approximately a 31 percent growth.
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