DHAKA: Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said her country would be able to meet 9 month of import expenditures with the existing foreign currency reserves.

The Prime Minister said that in spite of  having adequate foreign exchange reserves (FOREX), the government will have to take steps to grow more crops so as to save the foreign currencies and keep the forex reserves for any emergency.

"We have enough money to acquire food grains and other essentials for at least three months during any crisis. With the reserve we have now, we will be able to import food for six to nine months rather than three months "The premier made the remarks while speaking at a virtual event on Wednesday. Her words came as local media reported that Bangladesh has submitted a formal loan request to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to tackle the country's persistent financial turbulence.

On Tuesday, the Kerb market exchange rate for the US dollar reached a new high of 112 Bangladeshi takas. Bangladesh's foreign exchange reserves slipped below USD 40 billion on July 13 for the first time in two years, owing primarily to increasing import expenses and TAKA weakness caused by the dollar's recent broad gain.

Due to a slowdown in imports and growing remittance and export profits during the Covid-19 outbreak, the country's foreign reserves topped the $48 billion level in August last year, the biggest in history.

In recent months, the Bangladesh Bank (BB) has implemented various initiatives, including loosening laws in order to attract greater remittances from millions of Bangladeshi people living and working overseas.

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