The net reserve of Bangladesh now stands at $16 billion, surpassing the $14.7 billion target set for June by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), according to the Bangladesh Bank.
Meanwhile, the gross reserve as of 30 June was $21.83 billion, up from $19.4 billion on 26 June, according to the Balance of Payments and International Investment Position Manual (BPM6), said Bangladesh Bank spokesperson Md Mezbaul Haque.
Net reserve, which represents readily available cash from the gross reserves, is calculated excluding short term liabilities from gross reserve as per IMF formula based on the BPM6.
This marks the first time Bangladesh has surpassed the IMF target since the multilateral lender approved a $4.7 billion loan package in February last year.
In April, the net reserve fell 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 achieving the IMF’s June target is coming at the cost of import compression which slowed down the country’s economic growth fueling inflation as the result of raising fuel cost.
The country’s imports declined by 15.42% in the first nine months of outgoing fiscal year FY24, according to Bangladesh Bank data.
