Bangladesh's foreign exchange reserves have crossed the 31 billion U.S. dollars mark amid a boom in remittances inflow ahead of Eid-ul-Azha festival, also known as the festival of animal sacrifice.

A senior official of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) who did not like to be named told Xinhua Sunday that "the country's foreign exchange reserves reached a record amount of 31.16506 billion U.S. dollars on Aug. 31."

"Like previous years, Eid has come as a big boon for Bangladesh as the country has been receiving huge remittances from millions of expatriates," said the officer.

Muslims across Bangladesh will celebrate Eid-ul-Azha on Sept. 13.

Ahead of another Muslim religious festival Eid-ul-Fitr in June this year, which marks the end of the Islamic holy fasting month of Ramadan, Bangladesh's foreign exchange reserves crossed 30 billion U.S. dollars.

The country's foreign exchange reserves in April this year touched the 29 billion U.S. dollars mark for the first time.

Source : XINHUA