Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN) – The local currency, Bangladesh Taka (BDT), appreciated substantially by 2.57 percent against the US dollar in 2012, thanks to lower import payments and higher growth of inward remittance.
"The BDT appreciated against the US dollar in the just concluded calendar year- 2012 due mainly to higher inflow of remittances, the less demand for the greenback to settle import payments, rising trend of foreign direct investment (FDI) and moderate trend of export proceeds realization," a senior official of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) explained.
The US dollar was quoted at BDT 79.75-BDT 79.80 in the inter-bank foreign exchange (forex) market on December 30, the last working day of the last calendar year against BDT 81.79-BDT 81.90 on December 29, 2011.
The weighted average of US dollar came down to BDT 79.7524 in the forex market on December 29 last from BDT 81.8529 one year back, the BB data showed.
The local currency depreciated by 15.69 percent in 2011 against the US dollar. The trend continued throughout January 2012.
The greenback was quoted at BDT 84.48 in the inter-bank forex market on January 29 last, which was higher exchange rate of the US dollar in the history of Bangladesh against the BDT in 2012, the market operators said.
The local currency started regaining its strength, mainly because of higher inflow of the foreign currency to the market in the first two weeks of February last, they added.
“Lower import payments, coupled with a rise in remittance, helped arrest the BDT depreciation for most part of the last calendar year,” a senior treasury official of a leading private commercial bank said, adding that since end-September BDT started to appreciate against the US dollar, which further accelerated in December last.
The central bank of Bangladesh resumed purchasing the US dollar from the commercial banks directly from early December 2012 aiming to keep the inter-bank forex market stable through offsetting its increased supply in the market.
"We had resumed our intervention in the market after a month's interval to protect the interest of exporters and migrant workers by keeping the exchange rate of the BDT against the greenback stable," the BB official said.
As part of the move, the BB bought US$2.053 billion from the commercial banks so far in the current fiscal year (FY 2012-13), he added.
BBN/AD/SSR-01Jan13-9:25 pm (BST)
