Dhaka: The governor of the central bank Ahsan H. Mansoor said that the foreign exchange reserves of Bangladesh are gradually increasing and becoming stable.
In an interview with news agency UNB on Sunday (October 20), Governor Ahsan H. Mansoor said that during the previous government's tenure, the reserve was decreasing to 1.3 billion dollars per month, but now it has returned to a positive trend.
He said significant amounts have already been paid for fertilizer, electricity and Adani-Chevron dues.
In the last two months alone, the central bank has cleared 1.8 billion dollars in arrears of energy and other essential services, bringing the outstanding bill down from 2.5 billion dollars to 700 million dollars.
As of October 8 BPM6 calculations, Bangladesh's foreign exchange reserves stood at USD 19.82 billion and total reserves reached USD 24.97 billion.
He said that the central bank's primary goal is to pay off the remaining debt within the next two months and become debt-free by November-December. If this can be achieved, the liquidity situation in the market is expected to improve.
Payment of these arrears is expected to ease pressure on the economy, thereby accelerating economic activity.
The central bank is preparing to borrow an additional 10 billion dollars from various international institutions to boost the economy.
The governor, however, expressed concern over the country's growing foreign debt; which has now reached 103 billion dollars. Due to this, the debt repayment pressure is constantly increasing. Still urging patience, he said it would take at least a year to successfully overcome the current debt challenge