Forex reserves stand at $23.56 billion as per IMF definition

Bangladesh's foreign currency reserves stood at $23.56 billion today as per the definition of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the central bank said today.

The amount is equal to Bangladesh's four months' import bills.

It comes after the BB agreed to compile and report the official gross international reserves as per the balance of payments and international investment position manual (BPM6) of the IMF.

The reserves, however, stood at $29.97 billion if the central bank's traditional calculation method is followed.

The IMF has urged the central bank to report the actual reserves by deducting the funds allocated under the Export Development Fund (EDF) and other schemes.

The country's foreign exchange reserve has been falling for more than a year due to higher import payments and lower than expected export earnings and remittance inflows.