Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)- The Bangladesh Taka (BDT) depreciated further against the US dollar on Tuesday despite the central bank’s intervention in the market through selling the greenback to the commercial banks, bankers said.
The Bangladesh Bank (BB) sold $10 million at market rate to the Rupali Bank Limited on the day to settle fertiliser import payment, a senior official of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) told BBN in Dhaka.
He also said the BB may continue such intervention in line with the market requirement. “We’re closely monitoring the country's overall foreign exchange market situation.”
The US dollar was quoted at BDT 77.65-77.66 in the inter-bank foreign exchange market on Tuesday against BDT 77.62-77.63 of the previous working day, market operators said.
On Monday, the central bank directly sold $45 million to five commercial banks on the same ground.
Besides, the greenback exchange rate for BC (bills for collection) selling rose to maximum BDT 79.30 on Tuesday from BDT 79.20 of the previous working day, according to the market operators.
“The US dollar rate at customer level has increased in the recent days, mainly due to higher demand for the greenback to settle payment obligations,” a senior treasury official of a commercial bank explained.
“It’s a temporary phenomenon, following slowdown in remittance inflow and export receipts than the overall payment commitments,” the treasury official noted.
BBN/SSR/AD-26Nov14-11:49 am (BST)