The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has welcomed the increase in foreign exchange reserves by the Bangladesh Bank and said it will assess whether the modalities are consistent with the exchange rate regime.

An IMF mission is expected to visit Bangladesh this month for the fifth review of the conditions tied to the $5.5 billion loan, said Thomas Helbling, deputy director of the IMF's Asia and Pacific Department.

"They will conduct discussions with the authorities, and it remains to be seen what the outcome is. The mission will be in the field," he said, responding to a question from reporter at a press briefing in Hong Kong yesterday on Asia-Pacific economic developments.

Helbling said that reserve accumulation is a central objective of the IMF-supported programme, given the country's continuing balance of payments pressures.

"Increasing reserves to reduce balance of payments vulnerabilities is a key goal of the programme. So, the success of the central bank in accumulating reserves is welcome," he said.

However, the IMF will also assess whether the modalities of these interventions align with the Bangladesh Bank's (BB) declared exchange rate regime.

Bangladesh's foreign exchange reserves rose to $27.35 billion as per the IMF's calculation method on October 16, up from $19.93 billion a year earlier, owing to higher inflows than outflows and the central bank's purchases from the market.

Faced with mounting challenges since the second half of 2021 amid falling forex reserves due to high imports, the Bangladesh Bank sold more than $25 billion from its foreign exchange reserves between FY21 and FY25.

It introduced exchange rate flexibility in May 2025 after maintaining a crawling peg exchange rate for one year since May 2024 to ensure stability in the forex market.

The taka, which has lost 43 percent of its value since the fiscal year 2020–21, has become stable this year.

The BB has purchased $2.12 billion from the market since the beginning of the current fiscal year as inflows of the greenback have increased through remittances and exports.

FP/MI