Bangladesh's foreign exchange reserves hit a new high of 3.8 billion U.S. dollars on Sunday, thanks to robust remittance and export growths, The Daily Star reported Monday.

Besides, the reserves have also upped the value of taka against dollar. The greenback was selling at 69 taka this week, against 69. 5 taka the last week. Dollar price reached record 74 taka in recent days.

Earlier, the country's remittance hit a record high in a single month as it reached 598 million dollars in November.

The central bank sources said the remittance inflow surged as the overseas workers are sending money ahead of Eid-ul-Azha, the Muslim religious festival, contributing to rise in reserves that reached 3.79 billion dollars Sunday.

However, the foreign reserves will reduce next month, as Bangladesh has to pay significant amount of export-import bill to the Asian Clearing Union, according to the central bank.

But the reserves may cross 4 billion dollars mark before the payment if the remittance flow continues.

The overall remittance rose to 2.31 billion dollars during the first five months (July-November) of the current fiscal (2006-07), posting a strong 30 percent growth over the same period of last fiscal.

On the other hand, the country's continuing strong export growth since the last fiscal year is also contributing to rise in reserves.

According to the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB), in the fiscal 2005-06, Bangladesh exported goods worth 10.52 billion dollars, registering 21 percent growth. The export is also rising in the current fiscal year with approximately 31 percent growth.

Source: Xinhua