Former Chief Economist of the World Bank's Dhaka office Zahid Hussain said on Wednesday (October 04, 2023) that the actual calculation of foreign exchange entering into the country and leaving does not match.
He said that the reserves are decreasing due to a deficit in the balance of payments or transaction balance. The net reserves of foreign exchange as per BPM-6 is below $18 billion.
Zahid gave this information while speaking at the annual conference of the International Business Forum of Bangladesh (IBFB) held in a city hotel on Wednesday. Indian High Commissioner to Dhaka, Pranay K. Verma, was the chief guest at the event.
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He pointed out that one of the reasons for the overall macroeconomic instability of the country is external. The major aspect of this external factor is the price of the dollar.
The exchange rate of the US dollar was remained below Tk100 in 2021. But in September 2022 it went above Tk100. It is still above Tk110 even though it has decreased a bit now.
Zahid complained that the account of how much foreign currency is entering the country and how much currency is going outside does not match with the reserve.
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He said that usually this calculation is sometimes positive and sometimes negative. But recently it is seen in case of Bangladesh, this account has been negative for quite some time.
"This means that something is happening beyond our knowledge,” he said.