Have enough forex reserves to meet up to 9 months imports: PM

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday said Bangladesh would be able to meet six to nine months of food import expenditures with the existing foreign currency reserves.

“We have money in our hands to import food grains and others (essentials items) for at least three months during any crisis. We’ll be able to import the food for six to nine months, not only for three months, with the reserve that we have now,” she said, reports UNB.

The premier was addressing the 28th founding anniversary programme of Bangladesh Awami Swechasebak League at Krishibid Institution Bangladesh auditorium in the city’s Farmgate area, joining it through a virtual platform from her official residence Ganobhaban.

She said despite having enough reserve, the government will have to take steps to grow more crops in order to save the foreign currencies and keep the forex reserve for any emergency.

Awami Swechasebak League, an associate body and the volunteer wing of Bangladesh Awami League, was founded on July 27 in 1994.

Noting that the reserve was some US$ 3.8 billion in 2006 during the BNP regime, the prime minister said her government was able to raise it to US$ 48 billion from US$ 7 billion in 2009.

She said Bangladesh had to spend huge amounts of foreign currencies from the reserve to import the materials for development works, capital machines for the industries as well as Covid-19 vaccines, testing kits and other Covid materials.

The people of the country would be benefited when the imported capital machineries go in operation, she added.

Taking a swipe at the critics of the government over forex reserve and energy, Hasina questioned why they don’t see the development activities of the government.

She said the government continues providing a huge subsidy, placed such a budget, raised the per capita income and has been able to keep the GDP growth.

The PM said her government pledged to reach electricity to every house and also kept this promise. But now many developed countries are taking austerity measures over the use of energy amid the global economic recession.

“We’ve also to take precautionary measures so that we will not fall in a great danger….we’ve taken steps for limited use of electricity. But it doesn’t mean that we don’t have any energy or it is running out,” she added.

Noting that it is true that Bangladesh needs to procure diesel, she said it doesn’t import petrol and octane as the country gets these as byproducts of gas extraction. “We’ve much more petrol and octane than what we have demands. We can also sell these sometimes,” she added.

“We’ve some so-called wise men who talk about many things sometimes. But I don’t know whether they keep any knowledge over many matters,” she added.

Citing that they forget small things due to their huge knowledge, Hasina alleged that they want to mislead the people talking back and forth.

The premier said many intellectuals write many things here and an economist wrote about the construction of Padma Bridge saying that the bridge was constructed unnecessarily as it would not be profitable one.

She said the economist, in his article, questioned who would use the bridge and raised objection over the installation of rail tracks in the Padma Bridge as the people of the southern region travel through launches.

"It is thought of some economists and they write articles…. I doubt how much they know Bangladesh and I don’t know whether they have ever visited the southern region,” she added.