Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN) – The Bangladesh Foreign Exchange Dealers’ Association (BAFEDA) has asked its member banks not to quote per US dollar beyond BDT 76 at customer level for the next 15 days.

The exchange rate of the US currency for bills for collection (BC) selling for opening letters of credit (LCs) against imports will come into effect from Tuesday.

The decisions came at a special meeting of the BAFEDA, held at its office in the city Monday with its chairman S M Aminur Rahman in the chair.

Under the decisions, the banks will be allowed to quote less than the BC selling rate (BDT 76) to the overseas exchange houses for expatriate remittance.

A technical committee will submit a report to the executive committee of the BAFEDA within the next seven days, considering the latest situation on the country’s overall forex market, a BAFEDA member told BBN.

“We’ll convey our meeting decision to the central bank by Wednesday,” he said, adding that the new rate has been fixed unanimously at the meeting.

On October 5, the central bank asked the bankers to quote foreign currency exchange rates to the overseas exchange houses, after applying due diligence and considering the situation in the international forex market.

Currently, some commercial banks are quoting unusually high rates to the overseas exchange houses to attract more inward remittances, and these rates often exceed the inter-bank foreign exchange market rates, market insiders said.

BBN/SSR/AD-11Oct11-1:22 pm (BST)