Bangladesh’s foreign exchange reserves declined by US$1.3 billion in a month and stood at $20.48 billion on 31 July based on the calculation as per the IMF method.

In June, the reserves were $21.78 billion.

The reserves can cover imports of more than three months as per recent import trends. Currently, the average monthly import expenditure is $6 billion.

According to the Bangladesh Bank data, gross reserves (which include Export Development Fund and loans from reserves) stood at $25.92 billion. The country’s foreign exchange reserves have been falling for more than a year due to higher import payments and lower-than-expected export earnings and remittance inflows. The central bank started following the IMF’s Balance of Payments and International Investment Position Manual (BPM6) in calculating foreign exchange reserves as per a condition set by the global lender for a $4.7 billion loan approved for Bangladesh.