REJAUL KARIM BYRON

The Bangladesh Bank is going to make public the gross and net foreign reserve figures separately on a regular basis in line with global practices, said officials.

The decision comes after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) agreed to provide $4.5 billion in loans to Bangladesh to enable the country to preserve macroeconomic stability and support strong, inclusive and green growth, while protecting the vulnerable.

The loan support comes with conditions attached, including monetary policy modernisation and raising exchange rate flexibility to buffer external shocks.

The IMF has long been prescribing Bangladesh calculate and regularly publish the net foreign currency reserves.

The central bank currently shows gross foreign currency reserves by including $7 billion of the Export Development Fund, and $1 billion of a green transformation fund, and a loan given to state-run carrier Biman Bangladesh Airlines by government-owned lender Sonali Bank.

Presently, the gross foreign exchange reserves stand at $34.5 billion. The net foreign currency reserve is $26.5 billion if the IMF instructions are followed.

“We told them that we have no objection to this. We can show that [gross and foreign exchange reserves],” said BB Governor Abdur Rouf Talukder at a press briefing at the secretariat on Wednesday, marking the conclusion of a 15-day mission of an IMF team to Dhaka.

The BB chief said the central bank maintains reserves in a transparent manner. And the loans given to the exporters are for 120 days so that they can be liquidated at any time.