Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN) – Upward trend in Bangladesh's call money rates may continue this week ahead of the Eid-ul-Azha festival, market operators said.
The call rate ranged between 1.80 per cent and 4.50 per cent on Thursday against the previous range between 1.75 per cent and 4.50 per cent on Sunday last.
However, most of the deals were settled at rates varying between 3.50 per cent and 4.25 per cent, they added.
The weighted average rate (WAR) on call money remained almost stable ranging between maximum 3.80 per cent and 3.85 per cent from August 21 to August 24 last.
The volume of transaction, witnessing an upward trend in the recent days, indicates active participation of banks and non-banking financial institutions (NBFIs) in the call money market.
The volume of overall transactions in the market reached BDT 85.72 billion on August 21 last while the rate was unchanged. It was BDT 81 billion on August 24.
Talking to BBN, a senior treasury official of a leading private commercial bank (PCB) said the call money rate is likely to rise slightly ahead of the Eid due to higher withdrawal of liquid money from the banks.
He also said such short-term borrowings normally increase before Eid to meet the growing demand for money from the banks.
However, the exchange rate of Bangladesh Taka (BDT) remained unchanged against the US dollar in the inter-bank foreign exchange market in early hour transactions on Sunday.
The US dollar was quoted at BDT 80.70 unchanged from the previous working till the report was filed at 11:50 am (local time).
However, the local currency depreciated slightly again the US dollar at customer level for clearing import payment obligations.
The average exchange rate of US dollar rose to BDT 81.6340 for bill for collection (BC) on Thursday from BDT 81.6123 of the previous working day, according to the statistics of the Bangladesh Foreign Exchange Dealers Association (BAFEDA).
BBN/SSR/AD