Bangladesh foreign exchange reserves fall in March

DHAKA: Bangladesh's foreign exchange reserves fell to $31.79 billion at the end of March from $32.23 billion at the end of February and were down 1.9 percent from a year earlier, the central bank said on Tuesday.

The monthly decline was fuelled by a rise in imports, a senior central bank official said, adding the reserves were sufficient to cover about 10 months' worth of imports for the country of 160 million people.

Steady garment exports and remittances from Bangladeshis working overseas, the key drivers of the country's more than $250 billion economy, have helped foreign exchange reserves grow steadily in recent years.