DHAKA, March 3 (Xinhua) -- Driven by a boom in remittances from overseas workers, Bangladesh's foreign exchange reserves reached nearly 21 billion U.S. dollars by the end of February, the latest central bank data showed.

The Bangladesh Bank data indicated that the country's foreign exchange reserves stood at 20.906 billion dollars on Feb. 27, the last working day of the previous month, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) calculation method.

The BB said the forex reserve as of the end of January was 19.96 billion dollars. However, gross reserves stood at 26.14 billion dollars by the end of February.

Officials said remittances played a crucial role in increasing foreign exchange reserves last month.

The data showed that the remittances, one of the key sources of foreign exchange for Bangladesh, soared 25 percent year-on-year to 2.53 billion dollars in February.

February's remittance is reportedly the fourth-highest monthly inflow in the country's history since 1971.

According to the Bangladesh Bank data released here on Sunday, Bangladesh recorded its highest-ever monthly remittance inflow of 2.64 billion dollars in December last year.

In a bid to boost shrinking forex reserves, the central bank had taken earlier measures, including incentives in recent years, to woo more remittances from millions of Bangladeshi people living and working abroad.

Bangladesh's gross foreign exchange reserves hit an all-time high of 48 billion dollars in August 2021. Enditem

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