The country's reserves currently stand at $20.5 billion, said Bangladesh Bank Governor Ahsan H Mansur.
"Our reserves currently stand at $20.5 billion. This figure aligns with the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) definition, not the definition used by the previous government," he said in response to a question during the "Thikana" programme hosted by journalist Khaled Muhiuddin on Thursday (5 August).
When asked about the state of the reserves, Governor Mansur elaborated, "In the past week alone, our reserves have increased by $300 million. Since I took charge of the central bank, we have not sold a single dollar in the market. Instead, we have been buying reserves. Every day, we purchase $50 million from the market."
He further added, "Our goal is to bring inflation under control within the next 4-5 months, ideally to around 7-8%. Over the next year, we aim to reduce it further to 4-5%."
For a considerable time, the central bank had kept the real reserve figures undisclosed. Although it had not publicly shared the actual reserve amounts, these were regularly reported to the IMF.
Many believed that under Sheikh Hasina's government, the reserve had plummeted to nearly zero.
When questioned by Khaled Muhiuddin about the current $20.5 billion reserve and whether he alone should be credited, Mansur responded, "It is not true that reserves fell to zero during Sheikh Hasina's tenure. However, in the final phase of her government, policies were largely driven by IMF recommendations, which were quite sound."
On 24 June, the IMF approved the disbursement of the third instalment of a $4.7 billion loan package for Bangladesh.
Earlier, in February of last year, Bangladesh had received $476.3 million as the first instalment of the approved loan.
The second instalment, amounting to $681 million, was disbursed in December last year.
With the release of the third instalment, Bangladesh has now received a total of approximately $2.31 billion from the IMF across three instalments. The remaining $2.39 billion will be disbursed in four more instalments.
According to data from Bangladesh Bank, by the end of March this year, Bangladesh's external debt had reduced to $99.30 billion, down from $100.64 billion in December.
This indicates a reduction of $1.34 billion or $134 crore in external debt over three months.
However, taking on further loans would push the debt beyond the $100 billion mark once again.
According to international standards, a debt-to-GDP ratio of around 40% is considered sustainable.
Currently, Bangladesh's debt stands at 35%. However, the burden of debt relative to capacity is not insignificant.
Analysts suggest that forward planning is essential to manage this pressure and ensure continued progress.
