Dhaka, Sep 17 (IANS): The central bank of Bangladesh Tuesday said the country has around 20 billion US dollars in net foreign exchange reserves.

"According to the latest data, foreign exchange reserves amount to 24.3 billion dollars. It is close to 20 billion dollars according to the Balance of Payments and International Investment Position Manual (BPM6) calculation standard of the International Monetary Fund (IMF)," Husne Ara Shikha, Bangladesh Bank spokesperson and Executive Director, said in a statement on Tuesday.

Since last year, Bangladesh's net reserve, which represents readily available cash from gross reserves, is calculated excluding short-term liabilities from gross reserve as per IMF formula based on the BPM6.

For a growing economy like Bangladesh, forex reserves equivalent to six months' import bills are considered adequate. With the existing reserves, however, officials said Bangladesh is in a position to pay some four months' import bills.