Bangla Forex Reserves Rise to $33 Billion

Bangladesh’s foreign exchange reserves rose to $33.23 billion by the end of December, $630 million more than the previous month, the central bank said, Reuters reported. The reserves were up nearly 3.4% from a year earlier, and are sufficient to cover about 10 months’ worth of imports for the country of 160 million people. Steady garment exports and remittances from Bangladeshis working overseas—the key drivers of the country’s more-than $250 billion economy—have helped foreign exchange reserves grow steadily in recent years. Bangladesh’s economic growth hit a record 7.28% in the financial year ending June 2017, up from 7.11% the previous year. For Bangladesh 2017 has been a mixed year of achievements and challenges. Though some macro indicators reflect the positive trends, the overall strength of the economy is weakening due to a number of developments toward the second half of the year. Though average inflation has been around 5.5%, food inflation is showing an increasing rate in recent months.