Bangladesh's gross foreign-exchange reserves crossed US$36-billion mark Wednesday with an aid dollop of nearly $320 million from Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).
The country's gross forex reserves rose to $36.10 billion on the day from $35.80 billion of the previous day with disbursement of the funds by JICA, officials said.
JICA is a government agency responsible for delivering the bulk of Japan's Official Development Assistance (ODA).
As per the International Monetary Fund (IMF)'s Balance of Payments International Investment Poisson Manual-six edition, generally known as BMP6, the reserves in US dollar rose to $31.55 billion during the period under review from $31.24 billion, according to the central bank's latest data.
"Our gross forex reserves may touch $37 billion by the end of June if the government secures more funds from overseas sources," a top central banker told The Financial Express (FE) while replying to a query.
More foreign funds are expected to be included in the country's forex reserves shortly, the central banker hints.
Meanwhile, the World Bank has already approved $450 million worth of loan to help Bangladesh strengthen the foundations for a stronger banking sector for the revival of the economic growth and job creation.
Earlier, on June 14, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) disbursed more than $1.0 billion in budget support to Bangladesh.
Central bank officials, however, say stronger remittance inflows and lower import-payment obligations have also contributed to the improvement in the country's foreign-exchange-reserves position.
The purchasing of US dollars from commercial banks by the central bank has also helped push up the forex reserves recently, they add.
The central bank of Bangladesh has so far bought $6.42 billion from banks directly since July 13 last under the prevailing free-floating exchange-rate arrangement.
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