DHAKA, Aug. 13 (Xinhua) -- In a significant turnaround, Bangladesh's foreign exchange reserves have rebounded to over 37 billion U.S. dollars, a recovery not seen in almost four years, a central bank official said on Thursday.
Quoting the latest Bangladesh Bank (BB) data, the official told Xinhua that "gross forex reserves rose to 37,066.94 million dollars on Wednesday."
He said the country's reserves had slipped below the 37 billion dollars level in September 2022 amid a foreign exchange crunch, rising import costs and dollar market strains.
According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) calculation method, however, Bangladesh's forex reserves increased to 32.26 billion dollars on Wednesday, the BB official said.
Reserves calculated under the IMF's Balance of Payments and International Investment Position Manual are immediately usable, while gross reserves are usable subject to the liquidation of investments.
The BB official said Bangladesh is now in a position to cover more than six months of import bills with the existing reserves (calculated under the IMF method), which are sufficient to help the central bank's efforts in keeping the country's foreign exchange market stable.
Bangladesh's gross foreign exchange reserves hit an all-time high of 48 billion dollars in August 2021. ■