Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN) - The central bank has asked the money changers for taking effective measures to bring down the gap between the exchange rate of US dollar in banks and kerb market at a rational level, officials said.
The instruction came at a meeting of the leaders of Money Changer Association of Bangladesh held at the central bank on Wednesday with Executive Director of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) Ahsan Ullah chair.
“We’ve asked the money changers to minimize the difference between the exchange rate of US dollar in the banking system and the kerb market at a rational level as early as possible,” a BB senior official told BBN in Dhaka.
The BB’s directive came against the backdrop of large gap in US dollar rates in the kerb and formal markets.
The buying rate of US currency in the kerb market was higher by nearly BDT 2.0 Wednesday than what was offered by the state-owned commercial banks.
"The exchange rate of the US dollar in the kerb market is higher than the banking system due mainly to short supply of the cash greenback," a leader of the Money Changer Association of Bangladesh said while explaining main reason behind the gap between banks and kerb market rates.
Currently, 250 money changers are operating their business across the country.
However, a senior BB official has ruled out the allegation of short supply of the cash dollar in the country’s banking system, saying that there is no short supply of the cash US dollar in the market.
All 47 scheduled banks are now holding around 35 million cash US dollar to meet the demand for the greenback in the market, the central banker added.
The BB official also advised travellers to buy greenback from banks as it is not only cheaper but its supply is also adequate there.
In the formal market, state-owned commercial banks were selling a greenback at BDT 82.45 and buying at BDT 81.45 Wednesday, treasury official of a commercial bank said.
He also said most private and foreign commercial banks offer higher rates for the greenback than that of the state-owned banks.
The greenback was sold between BDT 84.20 and BDT 84.50 in the kerb market on the day, while the buying rates were between BDT 84.10 and BDT 83.20.
BBN/SSR/AD-02May12-11:25 pm (BST)
