Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN) – The Bangladesh Taka (BDT) has so far depreciated by 13.65 percent against the US dollar this calendar year mainly due to higher demand for the latter for settling the import bills, particularly that of fuel oil.
The US dollar was quoted at BDT 80.45 –BDT 80.60 in the inter-bank foreign exchange (forex) market on December 15 last against BDT 70.79- BDT 70.92 on January 2 this year, treasury officials said.
“The US dollar has gained against the Bangladesh Taka (BDT) continually from September last because of its short supply in the market,” a senior treasury official of a commercial bank said on Saturday.
The local currency depreciated by 13.02 per cent against the US dollar during the period under review at the customer level to open letters of credit (LCs) against import.
The average exchange rate of US dollar rose to BDT 80.6102 for bills for collection (BC) on December 15 last year from BDT 71.3244 on January 2 this year, according to the statistics of Bangladesh Foreign Exchange Dealers Association (BAFEDA).
The treasury officials said that supply of US dollar has declined due to the widening of the country’s overall external trade deficit and slow growth of inward remittances.
“Such depreciation of the local currency against the US dollar may fuel inflationary pressures on the economy,” the treasury official, adding that the country’s exporters and wage earners, who are working abroad, are, however, benefited from such depreciation.
“The BDT has depreciated less against the US dollar than the Indian Rupee,” a senior official of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) said, adding that the Indian Rupee has depreciated against the greenback by around 21 per cent.
He also said the central bank is monitoring the overall foreign exchange market taking into consideration the local, regional and the global forex market situations.
BBN/SSR/AD-18Dec11-1:58 am (BST)
