Welcome to Business Outlook
Related Articles
The taka has weakened further against the US dollar as the Bangladesh Bank is selling the American greenback to banks at Tk 102.
The move is aimed at adjusting the exchange rates gradually in line with the market demand and supply.
The latest depreciation comes a month after the central bank sold the greenback to banks at Tk 101. Since January, the BB depreciated the local currency by 2 per cent.
The BB is selling the US dollar to banks to help them meet their foreign currency requirements, particularly for import payments, amid the foreign exchange crisis that has been lingering for a year.
The central bank sold $56 million to banks at the new rate, said a senior BB official, seeking anonymity.
“We are adjusting the exchange rate gradually.”
In the interbank market, the greenback was traded up to Tk 105.42 on average on February 22, up 22.5 per cent from Tk 86 a year ago. The taka has lost the value because of the US dollar shortages.
Banks also hiked the rate on Wednesday to purchase US dollars from exporters by Tk 1 to Tk 104, a move that is expected to give a boost to the competitiveness of exports in the international market.
Like many other countries, the taka has been under pressure against the dollar over the last one year owing to higher import payments than overall receipts from export and remittance.
As a result, the country’s foreign exchange reserves have fallen. The reserves stood at $45.84 billion on February 22 last year but it declined to $32.44 billion on the same day this year.
(TDS)
