Forex reserve declines, revenue earning buoyant
Dhaka: Bangladesh's reserve of foreign currency stood at US$ 10431.23 million on May 31, a decrease of nearly US$1 billion over the course of one month.
Foreign exchange reserve was US$ 11316.44 million on April 28, 2011, according to Bangladesh Bank statistics released on Thursday. Wage earners' remittances during the July-April period were US$ 9612.98 million, 4.58 percent higher than the corresponding figure of the last fiscal.
The single-month remittance inflow for April 2011 managed to just cross the billion-dollar mark as it touched US$ 1001.97 million, compared to the US$ 922.16 million that came in during April 2010.
Revenue collection by the National Board of Revenue (NBR) for the July-April period was encouraging, growing by nearly 27.07 to stand at Tk 59555.88 crore.
The current account balance is coming under pressure, as it came down to just US$ 689 million during the July-March period, compared with US$ 2643.00 million registered in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal.
Buoyed by the healthy performances of RMG, jute, jute goods and frozen foods, exports maintained a robust growth of 40.88 percent during the July-April period, totaling US$ 18243.24 million against imports amounting to US$ 27453.00 million.
The BB statistics also showed that during the July-April period, L/Cs worth US$ 32641.94 million, in food grains, capital machinery, petroleum, industrial raw materials were opened while L/Cs worth US$ 26221.14 million were settled.
On agricultural credit disbursement, about 81.48 percent of the target was achieved during the July-April period of the current fiscal, as disbursement for the period was Tk 10280.71 crore while recovery was Tk 9941.28 crore. UNB
Govt to buy rice at Tk 29 per kg; procurement begins on June 5
Dhaka: The government will buy rice at Tk 29 per kilogram as procurement of rice begins on June 5.
Food Secretary Barun Dev Mitra stated this to reporters at the Food Ministry on Thursday. He said primarily the government will procure six lakh metric tons of rice and the procurement will continue till September 30.
On Wednesday Food Minister Dr Abdur Razzaque said allocation for procuring 11 lakh metric tons of rice will be there in the next budget. He said the government would decide the quantity of rice it would procure after analyzing the market situation.
Last year, he said the government initially fixed procurement price at Tk 25 per kilogram, but later increased it to Tk 28.
The Food Minister said at present, the government has in hand 10.35 lakh metric tons of food grains (rice and wheat) - around 7.35 lakh metric tons are already stored in the government warehouses while another 3 lakh metric tons awaiting delivery at the Chittagong port. "There is no crisis of rice. The stock of rice was 5 lakh metric tons last year."
He said the government imported the highest quantity of rice this year to check the price of rice in the domestic market. Dr Razzaque said the government's OMS program would continue in the capital, though on a limited-scale.
He informed that the government would soon sign a memorandum of understan-ding (MoU) with Ukraine for import of wheat. UNB
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