Dhaka, Nov 15 (IANS): Bangladesh's foreign exchange reserves fell below 20 billion US dollars by the end of October 2024, the latest Central Bank data showed.

The Bangladesh Bank data showed the country's foreign exchange reserves stood at 19,844 million dollars on October 31, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) calculation method.

After the payment of the Asian Clearing Union, an arrangement for settling payments for intra-regional transactions among its members last week, the country's reserves stood at 18.44 billion dollars as of Wednesday.

The Central Bank, however, said gross reserves were 25.50 billion dollars by the end of October. The reserves calculated under the IMF's balance of payments and investment position manual method were immediately usable, while gross reserves were also usable subject to the realization of investment.

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

Bangladesh's gross foreign exchange reserves hit an all-time high of 48 billion dollars in August 2021, Xinhua news agency reported.

In a bid to boost shrinking forex reserves, the Central Bank has taken various measures including incentives to woo more remittances from millions of Bangladeshi people living and working abroad in recent years.

The country's remittances totaled nearly 9 billion US dollars in the July-October period, official data showed.