DHAKA, Aug. 24 (Xinhua) -- Bangladesh's foreign exchange reserves hit an all-time high of 38.33 billion U.S. dollars, central bank's latest data showed.
According to the provisional Bangladesh Bank (BB) data, the country's foreign exchange reserves stood at 38,334.84 million U.S. dollars as of Aug. 19 after reaching 37,288.20 million U.S. dollars last month.
An official of the BB's Forex Reserve and the Treasury Management Department said this is the highest level of forex reserves Bangladesh has ever held.
He said Bangladesh's foreign exchange reserves crossed the 37-billion-U.S. dollar mark last month amid a boom in inflow of remittances ahead of Muslim Eid al-Adha festival.
According to the official, slump in import bills due to COVID-19 that made businesses in the country sluggish in the recent months has also immensely contributed to the robust rise in reserves.
The BB data showed that millions of Bangladeshis living and working abroad sent home 2.6 billion U.S. dollars in remittances in July, a new monthly record.
Experts said the current reserve level is good enough to support Bangladesh's resilience to external odds, as well as to maintain macroeconomic stability in light of the unabated COVID-19 outbreak.
According to the figures reported by the Directorate General of Health Services under the country's Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Sunday, the number of confirmed COVID-19 infections in Bangladesh totaled nearly 300,000, while fatalities stood at 3,941. Enditem
