Bangladesh's foreign exchange reserves hit an all-time high of $5 billion on Wednesday, thanks to robust growth in money sent home by expatriate Bangladeshis and exports, a central bank official said.
"The reserves topped the $5 billion mark today for the first time on the back of high remittance inflow and huge export earnings," the Bangladesh Bank official told Reuters. Besides, aid disbursement by the development partners including the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank also boosted the reserves, he added.
Remittances rose to $5.46 billion in July-May, posting a strong 25 percent rise over the same period of the 2005/06 fiscal year, which ended last June.
Bangladesh Bank expects the inflow of remittance to touch an annual $10 billion over the next three years, and to top $6 billion in the current fiscal year. Remittances from 4.6 million expatriate workers are Bangladesh's second biggest source of foreign income behind textile exports, officials said.
Exports earning rose 18.50 percent to $9.91 billion from July to April. Exports reached a record $10.526 billion in the 2005/06 fiscal year, of which $7.9 billion came from garments.