FX reserves hit record high in February

The foreign exchange reserves of the country stood at an all-time high of $19.15 billion at the end of February, $1.03 billion more than the earlier record set in January, and more than 38 percent higher than a year earlier, the central bank said on Sunday.

The higher reserves, which stem from a widening current-account surplus, are enough to cover more than six months of imports. At the end of February 2013, reserves totalled $13.85 billion.

Rising exports and slowing imports have helped build reserves despite a drop in inward remittances due to fewer Bangladeshis going abroad to work.

In the first eight months of the financial year that will end in June, the central bank purchased around $3.3 billion from local commercial banks to help keep the local currency stable. In the previous financial year, it bought $4 billion.

Economic growth is expected to slow below 6 percent in the financial year ending in June, as the country was gripped by political turmoil in the months leading up to an election in January. In 2012/13, the economy grew 6 percent.