Country's foreign exchange reserves rose to USS 1558.60 million, as of February 25, while government's neat borrowings from banking system reduced to half following some fiscal measures.

Giving the figure at a workshop Finance Minister Shah A M S Kibria yesterday felt the reserve position should have been much higher when economy is on a growth track and exports increasing.

I le (hanked (he Bangladesh Bank for iis stern measures to check currency trade on informal market, resultingin recent turnaround of the emaciated foreign currency reserve.

The finance minister's remark came in the inaugural session of the two-day workshop on financial reporting, organised by Dhaka Reporters' Unity (DRU) at (he Bangladesh Institute of Administration and Management (BIAM) auditorium.

Kibria gave words of advice to economic reporters to uphold their moral values and improve the quality of reportingeconomic affairs.

Bangladesh Bank governor Dr Mohammad Farashuddin, Finance Secretary' Dr Akbar Ali Khan and Economic Relations Division (ERD) secretary’ Dr Masihur Rahman also

spoke at the function attended by chairmen and chief executives ol somecommercial banks.

DRU president M Anwarul I luq welcomed the guests while its vice president Abul Bashar gave vote of thanks and general secretary Motahar I lossain Masum moderated.

The government borrowed Ik 1535.33 crore till February 25 compared to Tk 3321.60 crore in January last year. Instead ol borrowing from the central bank, the government rather repaid Tk 1205.46 crore to Bangladesh Bank thisyear.

The finance minister said all indicators of the economy moved positive with revenue growing 22 per cent, export 23-14 per cent and imports 21 percent. Import duties, VAT at both import and domestic levels, supplementary duties all exceeded their respective targets in July-January' period, he told the reporters.

Inflation remained as low as 0.76 per cent on point-to-point basis while the running average for 12 months is 2.58.

He gave credit to farmers, added to Almighty's blessings and government's bold decisions to withdraw import duties from agricultural machinery and expansion of agricultural credits for continued

growth in farm output.

ERD Secretary Dr Masihur Rahman said local press gives loo much importance to whatever (he development partners say without evaluating their remarks in real perspectives.

Referring to a recent remark by the representative of an international agency on higher education, he said the development partners had not been extending any help to the country's technical and vocational education while the government has long been emphasising such education.

1 Ie also contradicted an observation (hat 7 percent of the aid money is drained. Whether the money was utilised properly and what results it yielded were not looked into, he viewed.

The Finance Secretary said private sector should be focussed more in economic reports on the media.

I Ie advised (he economic reporters to refrain from spreading apprehensions.

The central bank governor said financial reporting gained maturity over the years. I Ie said finding out (he reliable source remained the main hurdles for economic reporters.