B Mirror Report: Bangladesh’s gross foreign exchange (forex) reserves have risen above $35.6 billion after the country received more than $1 billion in budget support from the Asian Development Bank (ADB), according to Bangladesh Bank officials.

The country’s gross reserves increased to $35.63 billion on Sunday, up from $34.73 billion on June 10, following the disbursement of ADB funds. Reserves calculated under the IMF’s Balance of Payments and International Investment Position Manual (BPM6) also rose to $31.07 billion from $30.08 billion during the same period.

A senior Bangladesh Bank official said the current reserve level is sufficient to cover around six months of import payments.

The improvement in reserves comes amid lower import payment obligations and stronger remittance inflows. Bangladesh’s actual imports, measured through the settlement of letters of credit (LCs), declined by 4.14 percent to $50.43 billion during the July-March period of FY2025-26, compared with $52.61 billion in the same period a year earlier.

Meanwhile, the opening of fresh LCs, or import orders, edged up 0.35 percent to $53.94 billion.

Officials said the country’s gross reserves could exceed $36 billion by the end of June if additional external financing is received. Bangladesh Bank’s purchase of dollars from commercial banks has also supported reserve growth, with the central bank buying $6.42 billion since July 13 last year under the market-based exchange rate regime.