BBN file photo

Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)– The exchange rate of the Bangladesh Taka (BDT) has depreciated further against the US dollar following higher demand for the greenback in the market to settle the import bills.

The local currency depreciated by seven poisha in the country’s inter-bank foreign exchange (forex) market on Thursday just after two days back, market operators said.

The US dollar was quoted at BDT 84.12 each in the inter-bank forex market on the day against BDT 84.05 of the previous working day, they added.

The local currency depreciated for the second times in the last week that ended on Thursday despite of selling US$ 37 million by the central bank to four commercial banks on the day for keeping the forex market stable.

“We’ve sold the US dollar to four state-owned commercial banks (SoCBs) for making import payments, particularly for fuel-oils, fertilizer and capital machinery for power plants,” a senior official of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) told the BBN in Dhaka.

He also said the central bank might continue providing such foreign currency support to the banks in line with the market requirement.

“We’re continuously providing such foreign currency support to the banks for making import payment obligations against the essential items in the recent months,” the central banker explained.

A total of $1.61 billion has been sold since July 01 of the current fiscal year (FY), 2018-19, to the commercial banks as part of BB’s ongoing support, the BB data showed.

Earlier on 11 February, the local currency depreciated by 10 poisha against the greenback in the inter-bank forex market on the same ground.

The greenback was quoted at BDT 84.05 each in the market on the day against BDT 83.95 of the previous working day.

Talking to the BBN, a senior treasury official of a leading private commercial bank (PCB) said exports and remitters will encourage following such depreciation of the local currency against the US dollar.

He also said such depreciation will increase cost of import that might push up inflationary pressure on the economy in the near future.

On the same day, the exchange rate of BDT depreciated by eight poisha against the US currency at customer level for settling import bills.

The exchange rate of the US dollar rose to maximum BDT 84.20 each for sale of Bill for Collection (BC) on the day from maximum BDT 84.12 of the previous working day, according to the operators.

The local currency should be depredated more against the US dollar considering the ongoing demand and supply situation on the market, according to the treasury official.

BBN/SSR/AD