Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)– Bangladesh Taka (BDT) has appreciated by more than 3.0 per cent against the US dollar since first of February 2012 due mainly to lower imports, officials said.
“The BDT has appreciated substantially against the US currency mainly due to lower demand for the greenback to settle import payments,” a senior official of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) told BBN in Dhaka.
The central banker also said steady growth of inward remittance and rising trend of export proceeds realization has also contributed to regain the exchange rate of the local currency against the US dollar.
The weighted average exchange rate on the greenback stood at BDT 81.90 on Monday against BDT 84.48 on January 30 this year, according to the central bank statistics.
“We expect that the existing stable trend of the local currency against the greenback will continue until the end of June,” the BB official said, adding that the central bank is closely watching the forex market to maintain the stable condition.
“Our currency has started appreciating against the US dollar since the first week of February after announcement of the latest monetary policy by the BB,” the central banker said.
Earlier, on January 26, the BB unveiled a ‘restrained’ monetary policy, aiming to bring down inflation to a single digit by June through discouraging credit flow to unproductive sectors.
BBN/SSR/AD-08May12-7:50 am (BST)
