FE Report

The Bangladesh Bank (BB) is now considering investing the country's foreign exchange reserve actively with a diversifying attitude to earn return from the investment.

The central bank has taken the move against the backdrop of drastic fall in

the interest rates on major foreign currencies in the global market, BB officials said.

"We're considering investing our forex reserve in different areas taking into consideration the current global market risk parameters," a BB senior official told the FE Tuesday.

The interest rate on US dollar came down at 0.21 per cent this month which is below the policy level interest rate of 0.25 per cent, according to statistics.

"Actually, the interest rates on major foreign currencies started a falling trend in June, 2008 that by now have come down at a bottom level," the BB official said.

The central bank has already established custodian arrangements with two foreign commercial banks - Citibank and Standard Chartered Bank -aiming to strengthen its investment activities across the world.

The country's forex reserve rises continuously thanks to a robust growth of inward remittances as well as declining import payments in the recent months.