The Bangladesh Bank – following the guidelines of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) – has revealed a significant drop of $6.44 billion in the country's foreign exchange reserves.

As of 12 July (Wednesday), the country's reserves stood at $23.56 billion, compared to the previous calculation of $29.92 billion, according to official data from the central bank.

The revised figure aligns with international standards as per the Balance of Payments and the International Investment Position Manual (BPM6), which mandates the exclusion of various components from the reserve calculation.

The excluded elements include foreign currency loans to local banks – the Export Development Fund, deposits with state-owned local banks, deposits with the IDB Group, fixed-income securities below investment grade, a loan to Sri Lanka, and other foreign currency assets in non-convertible currencies.