Foreign exchange reserves have crossed $39 billion for the first time, an official of Bangladesh Bank says.

The reserves recorded at $39.4 billion on Tuesday are equivalent to about 10 months of import payments with $4 billion a month.

An increase in inward remittances and exports topped with $300 million from the Japan International Cooperation Agency boosted the reserves to a new high, said Kazi Rafiqul Hassan, general manager of Forex Reserve and Treasury Management Department at Bangladesh Bank.

The coronavirus pandemic has left inward remittances largely unscathed. Expatriates remitted $1.72 billion in 27 days of August, according to the central bank, compared to $1.4 billion in the full month of August a year earlier. The total remittance in July was $2.6 billion, a monthly record.

Bangladesh’s exports rose 0.59 percent year-on-year to $3.91 billion in July. The amount was 13.4 percent higher than the target. Through this, Bangladesh’s exports reversed a decline of seven months.

https://bdnews24.com/economy/2020/09/01/bangladeshs-forex-reserves-cross-39bn-for-first-time