Foreign Exchange

Bangladesh Forex Reserves Slip to $36.38 Billion After Early September Peak, Remittances Keep Buffer Strong

Bangladesh's gross foreign currency reserves eased to 36.38 billion dollars by September 7, sliding back from the 37.41 billion dollar mark touched just a week earlier, as import payments offset a fresh wave of remittance inflows. Usable reserves under the IMF's BPM6 formula stood at 31.47 billion dollars, comfortably above the three month import cover regulators watch as a safety line. Record remittance receipts, including a single day high of 201 million dollars on September 6, are helping cushion the buffer even as global commodity costs and debt servicing continue to test the external accounts.