United News of Bangladesh

Bangladesh's foreign exchange gross reserves on Wednesday crossed $35.03 billion within 9 days of the new government coming to office. According to the IMF BPM-6 calculation method,  which adheres to the principle "what cannot be spent, cannot be counted,"  the foreign exchange reserves reached $30.27 billion. Arif Hossain Khan, Executive Director and spokesperson of the central bank, confirmed this by text message on Wednesday night. Central bank officials noted that expatriate Bangladeshis are increasingly using legal channels to send money home, significantly strengthening the nation's dollar holdings. Due to the surplus of dollars in the banking system, there were concerns about a sharp decline in the value of the US dollar. To maintain market equilibrium and ensure stability, Bangladesh Bank has been actively purchasing dollars from commercial banks. During the current fiscal year, FY2025-26, the central bank has purchased approximately $4.90 billion from the market. This marks a sharp reversal from previous years (2021-2024), where the bank was forced to sell nearly $34 billion to curb an unstable market.

Top business houses in a meeting with Bangladesh Bank (BB) on Monday sought several facilities including foreign exchange support from the forex reserve to import essential commodities and moratorium on loan repayments up to June 2023. Though Bangladesh exported a record $5 billion worth of goods in November, the traders sought the moratorium, which is similar to deferment, when a lender allows deferred loan repayments for a specific period. Usually, the reason involves some kind of financial hardship, but it was also allowed during the pandemic period. After the meeting, president of Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industries (FBCCI) Md Jasim Uddin told reporters, “In Ramadan requires many other products besides essential commodities. That's why I asked for ease of import and requested to provide foreign exchange assistance from reserves for opening LC from the reserve if required.” Read: No forex crisis from Jan 2023, Bangladesh Bank Gov says Bangladesh Bank has assured to do so, he said. The BB Executive Director and Spokesperson Mezbaul Haque told UNB that the global context and the current economic situation of the country were discussed in the meeting. “FBCCI has sought policy benefits. We will consider FBCCI matters. But no decision has been taken till now,” he said. Jasim also said that production has been disrupted due to the energy and gas crisis. Due to these factors, the factories cannot be run. Raw material cannot be imported due to LC complexity. This has an impact on business. “If you can't do business, you can't pay the loan instalments. So the differed loan repayment facility should be extended till June next year. So that no one would become a defaulter. If the customer defaults, the bank will also default. So I think it is logical to increase the loan repayment time.” Read: Despite taka depreciating, banks selling dollars at Tk3-4 extra The business leader also sought a single rate of dollar resolving the existing several rates of dollar for LC opening and another purpose. Responding to a question regarding the interest rate cap, the FBCCI president said that if the interest rate is low, investment is high. “So I don't see the need to lift the interest rate cap now. For this reason, I have requested that the interest rate cap should not be lifted for the next one year,” he added.