Bangladesh's forex reserves surge to record high amid Covid-19

Bangladesh's foreign exchange reserves have soared past 42 billion US dollars amid the Covid-19 pandemic, the central bank's latest data showed.

According to the provisional Bangladesh Bank (BB) data, the country's foreign exchange reserves stood at 42,094.90 million US dollars as of Dec. 15 after reaching 41,269.02 million US dollars at the end of November.

According to BB's Forex Reserve and the Treasury Management Department data, this is the highest level of forex reserves Bangladesh has ever held.

Bangladesh's foreign exchange reserves crossed the 41-billion-US dollar in October amid a slump in import bills due to the Covid-19 pandemic that made businesses also sluggish in Bangladesh.

Experts said the current reserve level is good enough to support Bangladesh's resilience to external odds, as well as to maintain macroeconomic stability in light of the unabated Covid-19 outbreak.

They said Bangladesh is in a position to pay more than 10 months' import bills with the existing reserves, which are also enough to help the central bank's efforts in keeping the foreign exchange market stable despite the economic impacts of the pandemic.

Forex reserve crosses $35 billion mark for the first time

According to figures reported by the Directorate General of Health Services under the country's Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Saturday, the number of confirmed Covid-19 infections in Bangladesh totaled 499,560 while fatalities stood at 7,242.

Source:UNB