Good news on the day of political change, the reserve released 34 and a half billion dollars

Today marks the end of an important chapter in the political transition. The tenure of the interim government led by Professor Muhammad Yunus ended and on the same day the BNP alliance led by Tariq Rahman took over the governance of the state.

Today (Tuesday), on the day of the peaceful handover of power, the country's foreign exchange reserves have crossed USD 34.5 billion. Which is seen as a positive indication for the economy by the sector concerned.

Bangladesh Bank Executive Director and Spokesperson Arif Hossain Khan confirmed this information.

According to central bank sources, the rise in reserves has been seen due to the significant increase in the flow of expatriate income. Foreign exchange reserves have strengthened in recent months due to the trend of sending remittances through legal channels. Apart from this, import expenditure being somewhat controlled and export income being stable also contributed to the increase in reserves.

Economists believe that the reserve of more than 34 billion dollars will play an important role in meeting the import expenditure of the country, paying installments of foreign debt and maintaining stability in the currency market. At this time of political upheaval, the news of an increase in reserves is seen as a comforting start for the new government.

According to the latest data of Bangladesh Bank, the country's gross reserves stood at 34.54 billion US dollars at the end of February 17. At the same time, according to the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) accounting system BPM-6, the reserve is 29.86 billion dollars.

According to the data, expatriates sent 3.17 billion dollars to the country on the first day of January this year, which helped reduce the dollar crisis. At the same time, Bangladesh Bank's reserves have increased as a result of buying additional dollars from banks.

The jump in expatriate income continues in this February as well. In the first 16 days of February, expatriate Bangladeshis sent 1.8 billion 7 million dollars in foreign currency.

Meanwhile, as a result of the surge in expatriate income, there is a fear that the value of the dollar will decrease due to the creation of a surplus of dollars in the banks. In such a situation, the central bank buys dollars from various commercial banks to fix the supply-demand balance of foreign currency and to bring stability to the currency market.

In the current financial year (2025-26) so far, Bangladesh Bank has purchased US$ 4.9 billion ($4.90 billion) from various commercial banks.

In 2022, the country's dollar market became unstable. Then the price per dollar increased from 85 taka to 122 taka. The then Awami League government and the central bank could not bring the dollar market under control despite taking various steps. At some point the dollar has to be sold from the reserve. Even then, stability did not return to the market.

According to Bangladesh Bank sources, the central bank sold about 34 billion dollars in the last three financial years. Of this, 7.6 billion dollars were sold in 2021-22 fiscal year, 13.5 billion dollars in 2022-23 fiscal year and 12.79 billion dollars in 2023-24 fiscal year. But at this time only about one billion dollars was bought from the banks.

However, after the fall of the Awami League government, the current government took strict measures to stop money laundering. This has increased both exports and expatriate income. As a result, the supply of dollars increased. As supply increases but demand does not match, the value of the dollar is naturally supposed to fall. However, to keep the dollar market stable, the central bank is buying dollars from the market on its own initiative.

Salahuddin/sa