Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Sunday said Bangladesh still has adequate reserves of foreign exchange - enough to meet five months' import expenditures.
“The forex reserve was US$ 35.72 billion on November 03, 2022. Still it is possible to import goods for five months with our reserve of foreign currencies. Whereas international standard is to maintain enough to pay for three months' import,” she told Parliament.
Sheikh Hasina, also the Leader of the House, was addressing the valedictory speech in the 20th session of the 11th Parliament.
She said everyone now talks about the reserve and everyone has become expert over it. The reserve was only US$ 2.12 billion in 1996 but her first government raised it to nearly US$ 4 billion by 2001.
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The PM said the AL government, coming to power again in 2009, found the forex reserve of US$ 5.35 billion on January 06, 2009, which was raised to 17.47 billion on 08 January, 2014, US$ 32.09 billion on January 7, 2019, US$ 36.04 billion on June 30, 2020 and $46.39 billion on June 30, 2021.
She said the forex reserve went up to nearly US$48 billion during the Covid-19 as the import of goods declined sharply and the capital machinery was not imported during the pandemic.
when the Covid restrictions were withdrawn, the imports of goods normally increased. So, the forex reserve declined, she said.
She, however, stressed the need for reducing the import of luxurious goods and imposition of high taxes on the import of less necessary products.
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Besides, Sheikh Hasina, in her speech, focused on the government’s steps taken to ensure enough stock of foods, to ease the dollar crisis, to lessen import expenditures and to expand food-friendly programmes including OMS.
She also highlighted subsidies to different sectors, expansion of the social safety net, the export growth, dengue outbreak, the amount of the government’s loans and foreign debts.
Later, the 20th session of the current parliament, which lasted for six sittings, was prorogued.
Speaker Dr Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury read out the prorogation order of the President for the session that started on October 30 last.
The PM said Bangladesh is now also facing the consequences of the global economic crisis caused by the Russia-Ukraine war, and the sanctions and counter-sanctions in its wake, following the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Bangladesh is not isolated from it. Bangladesh is suffering its consequences,” she said.
She said inflation has hit records in almost all the countries across the world. The continuous rise in the value of the dollar against different currencies deepened the crisis further, she added.
About the subsidies, the premier said the government needs to provide additional subsidies to different sectors including electricity, energy, food imports, and food-friendly programmes due to the crisis. The total demand for subsidy has increased by Tk 105,000 crore, she said.
Talking about the food, she said there is nothing to be worried about as there is a stock of 1,573,485 tons of food grains right now in the nation's coffers. Besides, the government has taken steps to import more food.
Sheikh Hasina said 29 percent of families in the country have been brought under the social safety net and different food-friendly programmes were strengthened and OMS (Open Market Sale) scheme was taken down to the Upazilas. “We’ve taken preparation to provide a larger amount of essentials to the poor through OMS,” she said.
“We’ve been working for the people of the country. We’re making our best efforts so that the people of the country remain well,” she said.
The PM said the export earnings and remittance inflow witnessed positive growth of 7 percent and 2 percent respectively during the July-October period of the current fiscal year, while the LCs opened for import declined by 11.7 percent.
She said the government is keeping an eye so that there would be no dollar crisis in the country from January 2023.
About the foreign debt, Sheikh Hasina said the total loan of the government is only 36 percent of the GDP and its foreign debt is only 13.5 percent of the GDP. “After formation of the AL government, we (Bangladesh) never failed to repay loans or loan defaulters and will not be a failure in future,” she said.
“We’ve been trying our best to keep our economy vibrant,” the prime minister told the House.
In this context, she urged all people to exercise austerity, stop wasting resources, raise food production and reduce dependency on imported goods.