Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)- Bangladesh Taka (BDT) depreciated by over 2.50 per cent against the US dollar in the last one month at customer level, treasury officials said on Wednesday.
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The US dollar was quoted at BDT 73.0992 on Wednesday for bills for collection (BC) selling for opening letters of credit (LC) against imports. It was at Tk 71.2763 on December 30 last, according to the Bangladesh Foreign Exchange Dealers Association (BAFEDA) data.
The US dollar was quoted at BDT 71.15 on the same day in the inter-bank foreign exchange market while the rate of greenback reached between Tk 73.25 and Tk 73.30 through third currieries route, they added.
The third currency, popularly known as cross currencies, practices increased recently that also pushed the rate of greenback in the country’s foreign exchange market.
“Most of the banks now prefer to deal with Euro or Great Britain Pound (GBP) instead of US dollar for making higher profit from the transactions,” a treasury official of a commercial bank said.
“The supply of greenback in the market declined since December 2010 due mainly to higher import payments, particularly for fuel oils, food grains and power plant equipment,” another treasury official said.
The country’s imports grew by nearly 40 per cent during the first half of the current fiscal over that of the corresponding period of the last fiscal.
LCs against imports worth US$ 15.001 billion were settled during July-December period of fiscal 2010-11 compared to $10.717 billion in the corresponding period of fiscal 2009-10, according to the central bank statistics.
Pressure on foreign exchange reserve has increased gradually due mainly to higher import payments, the central bank officials said, adding that the country’s foreign exchange reserve came down to US$10.381 billion Wednesday from $10.440 billion of the previous day.
The central bank will take measures to discourage imports of less essential items aiming to minimize mismatch between demand and supply of the greenback in the market.
“We’ll take effective measures in this connection in line with our new monetary policy,” an executive director of the BB said, adding that the central bank would give necessary instructions to the banks for implementation of the monetary policy.
On Sunday last, the central bank unveiled its half-yearly monetary policy that aimed at keeping inflation rate at around 7.0 percent by the end of this fiscal through discouraging credit flow to unproductive sectors.
“The central bank will not be able to keep the inflation rate at the desired level when imports are becoming costlier at the customers level,” the treasury official said mentioning the rising trend in inflation.
BBN/SI/AD-03Feb11-12:50 am (BST)
