Bangladesh foreign currency reserves up

Dhaka, May 2 (IANS) Bangladesh's foreign currency reserves rose to $10.19 billion in April after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) handed over the first instalment of its loan to the country.

The Washington-based multilateral lender last month had approved a $987 million loan to Bangladesh for a three-year period. In last week of April, it disbursed $141 million.

Bangladesh's reserves slipped below the $10 billion mark for the last time in February this year but returned to double-digit billion figures in mid April, the Bangladesh Bank, the country's central bank, told Xinhua.

Fall in reserves has caused almost a steady depreciation of taka, the local currency, against US dollar last year and also during the first few months of this year.