Bangladesh’s economy is, according to the International Monetary Fund, still in a better shape compared with the economies of some other Asian countries in the face of the ongoing global recession, Bangladesh Bank sources said.
‘Bangladesh’s economy is doing well in comparison with those of India, Pakistan, Nepal, Thailand and even Malaysia as signs and symptoms in its forex reserve, export and import, valuation of dollar compared with taka, along with positive current account balance and overall balance of payment are very positive,’ said Masato Miyazaki, the IMF’s Asia-Pacific adviser, at a meeting on Wednesday with three Bangladesh Bank departments — Forex Reserve and Treasury Management, Foreign Currency Policy, and Foreign Currency Investment.
The IMF staff mission visited Bangladesh between March 30 and April 2 to give the central bank and the government some suggestions for the current financial year, the revised and the next financial year’s budget.
The IMF staff mission, as part of the visit, also met the officials and heads of the three departments of the central bank on Wednesday.
The IMF mission head also said the government would need to increase foreign exchange reserve, devaluate taka against dollar and cut down on lending rate of banks to safeguard the economy from the global recession.
The Bangladesh Bank can also take a new monetary policy which could increase the flow of money in the market, he said.
Sources attending the meeting said the central bank officials had informed the IMF mission that export growth was still positive in January and export orders were still pouring in.
Bangladesh’s inward remittance flow posted a positive sign in February and March. Besides, the cost of import also reduced because of the fall in food prices on the world market.
The IMF officials also said in view of all indicators, it seems the economy was yet to experience any negative impact of the global meltdown.
According to central bank data, foreign exchange reserve will increase to $6 billion on April 1.
The government does not need to make hurry to import food as the country has experienced two bumper crop yields this year.
As a result, the total pressure on forex reserve also has been eased during the period. The country’s overall and current account balance of payment in January posted positive marks at $56 million and $ 26 million.
The central bank has recently bought dollars from the market to keep the local market stable. As a result, dollar is exchanged for Tk 69.02 to Tk 69.04 on the inter-bank market in the ongoing recession.
Before the recession had begun, inter-bank dollar-taka rate was Tk 68.48 and Tk 68.50. The export earning has reached Tk 1,035.31 crore in eight months and export growth 16 per cent compared with the figures of the same period of the past financial year.
Inward remittance will be $900 million in March, the central bank sources said. |
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