Dollar crisis has been going on in the country for a long time. Recently, the reserves increased slightly due to increase in overall exports and remittance inflow ahead of Eid. After Eid, one of the indicators of the economy has started to decrease again due to the pressure of imports along with the decrease in remittance flow. Foreign exchange reserves have now fallen below 20 billion or 2 trillion dollars.

According to the latest updated data of Bangladesh Bank, according to International Monetary Fund (IMF) BPM-6, foreign exchange reserves decreased to 19.89 billion or 1,980 million US dollars on April 17. The total reserves on the same day were $2,530 million. Total reserves were much higher at this time last year ($31.18 billion or $3,180 million).

As per BPM-6 on April 8 before Eid, the reserves were 20.11 billion or 2110 million US dollars. Total reserves on that day were 2 thousand 539 million dollars. As such, in the last 10 days, the reserve of BPM-6 has decreased by 211 million or 21 million dollars.

At the beginning of the financial year 2023-24, gross reserves were $29.73 billion. And according to BPM-6 was 23.37 billion dollars.

However, there is another account of Bangladesh Bank's Net or Actual Reserves, which is required to be disclosed to the IMF. Besides, according to the IMF loan agreement, a certain amount of net or actual reserves must be maintained every three months. However, the central bank does not disclose this information. According to the relevant sources, the country's expendable real reserves are now below 15 billion dollars. It will be difficult for Bangladesh to meet the import expenses of three months with this reserve as about six billion dollars per month. Normally a country should have reserves equal to at least three months of import costs. Bangladesh is now at the bottom of that standard. One of the indicators of a country's economy is foreign exchange reserves.

Actual reserves are unencumbered reserves. How to calculate actual reserves, sources also told Bangladesh at the time of the loan. The company fixes the amount of actual reserves to be held periodically as a condition of the loan. According to that, Bangladesh has to save reserves every three months according to the conditions of the IMF.

According to the terms of the loan given by the IMF to Bangladesh, Bangladesh Bank should have 1,926 million US dollars in actual reserves at the end of last March. But at that time the actual reserve was less than 15 billion dollars.

Foreign exchange reserves are made up of dollars received from remittances, export earnings, foreign investment, loans from various countries and international organizations. Again, the foreign currency goes through the expenditure incurred in various sectors including import expenditure, loan interest or installment payment, salary and allowance of foreign workers, tourist or student education. Thus, the dollar remaining after income and expenditure is added to the reserve. And if the cost is more, the reserve decreases.

Due to high prices of fuel and various products in the international market, the cost of imports has not decreased. Besides, global trade could not turn around after Corona. Later, after the start of the Russia-Ukraine war, the country's dollar-crisis has become evident since March last year; which is still ongoing. This crisis is increasing day by day. The central bank is regularly selling dollars from reserves to bring 'stability' to the market. As a result, one of the most important and sensitive indicators of the economy is decreasing continuously.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has approved a loan proposal of USD 4.7 billion to Bangladesh with certain conditions at the end of January this year. Bangladesh received 476.2 million 70 thousand dollars of the first installment of this loan in February last year and 68 million 10 million dollars of the second installment in December.
 
Along with various reforms in the financial sector, the IMF also included several conditions while granting the loan. According to the conditions, the net reserve at the end of June last year was supposed to be two thousand 446 million dollars. But at that time it was two thousand 47 million dollars. The organization was informed by Bangladesh that after the parliamentary elections, it will be possible to fulfill the conditions of obtaining reserve and revenue income. In this context, the IMF has relaxed the conditions for maintaining reserves.

According to the new conditions of the IMF, the real reserve should be kept at 1 thousand 778 million dollars in December last year. It should be increased to 1 thousand 926 million dollars in March and 2 thousand 10 million dollars in June. However, Bangladesh has failed to achieve this goal in December and March, financial sector stakeholders are skeptical about whether it will be possible to achieve this goal in the future.

According to the data of Bangladesh Bank, 10 years ago at the end of June 2013, foreign exchange reserves were only 15.32 billion dollars. Five years ago it was 33.68 billion dollars. From there, foreign exchange reserves rose to $39 billion on September 1, 2020. It crossed a new milestone of $40 billion on October 8 that year. After that, it increased even in the midst of the Corona epidemic, Bangladesh's foreign currency accumulation or reserve record was made on August 24, 2021. On that day, the reserve rose to 48.04 billion dollars or four thousand 804 million dollars. After that, the reserves have been decreasing continuously since last year due to the dollar crisis.

According to the data of the central bank report, the reserve was 21.50 billion dollars in the last financial year 2013-14. In the fiscal year 2014-15 it was 25.02 billion dollars. 30.35 billion dollars in 2015-16. 33.67 b in the financial year 2016-17