Expendable reserves will no longer be disclosed by the central bank

Finally, Bangladesh Bank accepted Net International Reserve (NIR) account of expendable reserves. At present the amount of net reserves is 16.03 billion dollars.

Expendable Reserves or NIR is calculated as per international standards by excluding various term investments and debt liabilities from the total reserves.

However, in this net reserve of the central bank, the investment in the bonds of some countries including the United States is also shown. It is recognized internationally, said the concerned.

Bangladesh Bank's spokesperson's office informed on Tuesday (2 July) that the total reserves in the country were 26.88 billion dollars till today. And according to BPM 6, the reserve is 21.79 billion dollars. And if you exclude the amount of Asian Clearing Union (ACU) bill, other current loans and debt sector, the NIR or expendable reserve stands at 16.03 billion dollars. It will never be revealed in the coming days. But as per BPM-6 the reserve will be revealed.

Bangladesh Bank Governor Abdur Rauf Talkdar claimed to reporters in November last year that Bangladesh does not account for expendable reserves as claimed by a so-called economist in the country. Later, in harmony with the governor, the spokesperson and executive director of the central bank. Majbaul Haque had been denying the NIR's account.

Although Bangladesh Bank has been providing information on expendable reserves to various institutions including the World Bank, IMF, ADB and the Ministry of Finance.

Basically, journalists and various research institutes were reluctant to give this information. However, today the spokesperson of Bangladesh Bank released the information of NIR.

Bangladesh Bank spokesperson Majbaul Haque said, "Reserves have increased." IMF target met. No problem with reserve. Our remittances have increased. Loans came from abroad. It enriched our reserves.'

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has waived 1.12 billion of the third tranche of the loan. Along with this, Bangladesh received loans from several other donor organizations. As a result, the foreign exchange reserves, which have been declining for a long time, have returned to a positive trend. In August 2021, Bangladesh Bank's reserves were the highest at 48.06 billion dollars. At the end of the recently concluded fiscal year 2023-24, the reserves as on June 30 were shown at $26.82 billion.

According to sources, Bangladesh Bank has another account of net or actual reserves, which is only given to the IMF and not disclosed. However, the central bank has officially announced that the reserves have suddenly increased by more than 2 billion dollars after receiving loan assistance.

With this reserve of 5.5 billion dollars per month, three months of import expenses can be met.

Normally a country should have reserves equal to at least three months of import costs. By that standard, Bangladesh is now in a marginal position.

On January 30, 2023, Bangladesh signed a 4.7 billion dollar loan agreement with the IMF. After three days, the company released 476.2 million 70 thousand dollars in the first installment. Then on December 16 last year, the second installment of 682 million dollars was released.

As per the agreement, the loan is to be fully repaid in seven installments till 2026.