Forex reserves to increase soon: Kamal

In his bid to reinforce the public psyche suffering from forex depletion, Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal said Bangladesh’s foreign currency reserves will reach $48 billion soon as remittances and export proceeds have increased in the last couple of months.

He said in the last fiscal year inward remittances aggregated $24 billion which he termed as a ‘good sign’ for an economy like Bangladesh.

After a virtual cabinet committee meeting on public purchases, the finance minister told reporters that the forex reserves now came down to $38 billion from $48 billion due to large import volumes.

He said exports are gradually increasing against a declining import-trade due to imposition of some restrictions.

Some two billion dollars worth of inward remittances come to Bangladesh every month, he added.

“We hope the trend will continue for this fiscal year which is good for the country.”