Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN) - The Bangladesh Taka (BDT) weakened further against the US dollar on Thursday, highlighting the persistent demand-supply imbalance in the country's foreign exchange market.

Key market developments:
📌 Bangladesh Bank's Spot Reference Exchange Rate (RR) increased to BDT 123.1787/USD, from BDT 122.9961 in the previous session—a depreciation of more than 18 paisa in a single day.

📌 The maximum interbank selling rate for Bills for Collection (BC) rose to BDT 123.60/USD, compared with BDT 123.40 a day earlier.

📌 Banks also increased their remittance procurement rates to BDT 123.50/USD, up from BDT 123.20, reflecting stronger competition for foreign currency amid relatively lower inward remittance inflows.

What is driving the market?

The immediate trigger appears to be stronger US dollar demand for import payment settlements, particularly by government entities. Large import-related payments typically create temporary spikes in dollar demand, pushing up exchange rates across both the interbank and customer markets.

At the same time, slower remittance inflows have reduced the supply of foreign currency. To attract available dollars, banks have raised their buying rates for remittances, which in turn has contributed to higher market exchange rates.

Market implications

The simultaneous increase in the:

• Spot Reference Exchange Rate (RR),
• BC selling rates, and
• Remittance procurement rates

suggests that the foreign exchange market remains under demand-side pressure.

Although Bangladesh has transitioned toward a more market-based exchange rate regime, these movements indicate that liquidity conditions in the FX market remain tight, with import demand continuing to outpace dollar inflows.

What to watch next

The direction of the exchange rate in the coming weeks will largely depend on:
✅ The pace of remittance inflows after Eid,
✅ Export receipt realization,
✅ The size and timing of import payment obligations,
✅ Government external financing inflows, and
✅ Bangladesh Bank's liquidity and FX market management.

The current trend reinforces a broader message: Bangladesh's FX market remains highly sensitive to shifts in dollar demand and supply, making sustained foreign currency inflows critical for exchange rate stability.

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Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)

The remittances from Bangladeshi nationals working abroad were estimated at $1.91 billion in July 2024, down by $633 million from the level of the previous month. In June last the remittances stood at $2.54 billion, according to the central bank statistics.

It was $1.97 billion in July 2023.

The Bangladesh Bank (BB) data showed that the inflow of remittances stood at $138 million from July 21 to July 27, the lowest among the four weeks of the month, following the internet outage, hindering banks from collecting much-needed foreign currencies to boost country's falling forex reserves.

On the last day of July, remitters sent $120 million, according to Bangladesh Bank Spokesperson Md Mezbaul Haque.

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US Dollar

Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)-Bangladesh’s foreign (forex) exchange reserves fell significantly in July despite of close monitoring of the central bank.

The country’s forex reserve fell to US$25.92 billion on July 31 from $26.81 billion a month before as per traditional calculation of the Bangladesh Bank (BB).

As per the International Monetary Fund (IMF)’s Balance of Payments International Investment Poisson Manual-six edition, generally known as BMP6, the forex reserves dropped to $20.49 billion during the period under review from $21.79 billion a month ago, according to the central bank’s latest data, released on Thursday.

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Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)

The cut off yield, generally known as interest rate, on the BGTBs rose to 12.55 per cent on the day from 12.15 per cent earlier, according to the auction results.

The government borrowed more than BDT 11.75 billion instead of the pre-auction targeted BDT 30 billion through issuing the treasury bonds on the day to meet its budget deficit partly.

Currently, five government treasury bonds, with tenures of two, five, 10, 15 and 20 years respectively, are traded on the market.

Besides, four treasury bills (T-bills) are transacted through auction to adjust government borrowings from the banking system. The T-bills have 14-day, 91-day, 182-day and 364-day maturity periods.

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Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN) - The flow of inward remittance grew by 7.04 per cent in August last as expatriates sent increased amount of money following celebration of the Eid-ul-Azha.

The remittances from Bangladeshi nationals working abroad were estimated at $1.41 billion in August, up by $92.87 million from the level of the previous month, according to the central bank statistics, released on Tuesday.

In July, the remittances stood at $1.32 billion.  It was $1.42 billion in August 2017.

Talking to the BBN, a senior official of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) said the inflow of remittance increased in the month of August mainly due to celebration of the Eid festival.

He also said the depreciating mode of the Bangladesh Taka (BDT) against the US dollar has also helped to increase the flow of inward remittance in the recent months.

However, the flow of inward remittances increased by 7.70 per cent to $2.73 billion during July-August period of the fiscal year (FY) 2018-19 from $2.53 billion in the same period of the FY 18.

Currently, 29 exchange houses are operating across the globe, setting up 1213 drawing arrangements abroad, to expedite the remittance inflow, according to the central banker.

The central bank of Bangladesh earlier took a series of measures to encourage the expatriate Bangladeshis to send their hard-earned money through the formal banking channel, instead of the illegal "hundi" system to help boost the country's foreign exchange reserve.

Most of the private commercial banks (PCBs) along with the state-owned commercial banks (SoCBs) are trying to increase the flow of inward remittances from different part of the world including the Middle East, the United Kingdom, Japan, Canada, Australia, Malaysia, Singapore, Italy and the United States.

“We’re trying continuously to increase the flow of inward remittance through establishing drawing arrangements with overseas companies,” a senior official of a leading PCB said.

All PCBs received $1.03 billion as remittance in August last while the SoCBs received $357.23 million, foreign commercial banks (FCBs) $10.74 million, and specialised banks $15.38 million.

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Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN) - The exchange rate of Bangladesh Taka (BDT) depreciated by maximum two paisa more against the US currency in early hour transactions on Monday in inter-bank foreign exchange (forex) market.
The US dollar was quoted at maximum BDT 79.82 against BDT 79.80 of the previous working day till the report was filed at 12:28 pm (local time).
“The local currency may depreciate more against the US currency in the next week due to lower supply of the greenback in the market,” a senior treasury official of a leading private commercial bank (PCB) told BBN in Dhaka.
He also said the BDT also depreciated by nearly 10 paisa against the US dollar at customer level on the same on the same ground.
The average exchange rate of the US dollar at customer level rose to BDT 81.1594 on Sunday from BDT 810613 of the previous day.
“The depreciating mode of BDT may continue in the coming days due to higher demand for the greenback in the market for settlement of import-payment obligations,” another treasury official explained.
However, the inter-bank call money rate remained stable in the range between 2.00 per cent and 4.50 per cent on Sunday mainly due to sufficient inflow of fund into the market.
The volume of overall transactions in the inter-bank call money market came down to BDT 63.21 billion on the day from BDT 66.35 billion of the previous working day, according to the central bank latest statistics, released on Monday.
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BBN file photo

Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN) - The average exchange rate of the US dollar at customer level crossed BDT 81 on Thursday from BDT 80.9215 of the previous day.
“The depreciating mode of BDT may continue in the coming days due to higher demand for the greenback in the market for settlement of import-payment obligations,” a senior treasury official of a leading private commercial bank hinted.
He also said the exchange rate ofBDT depreciated by maximum two paisa more against the US currency on the same day in inter-bank foreign exchange (forex) market.
The US dollar was quoted at BDT 79.79-BDT 79.80 against BDT 79.78 of the previous working day.
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The Hindu file photo

Mumbai, India (BBN) - The Indian rupee strengthened by 41 paisa to 64.26 as the dollar fell to a two-week low against a basket of other currencies on Thursday after US President Donald Trump said that the currency was too strong and that he would prefer interest rates to stay low.
The greenback and US Treasury yields took a heavy hit after Trump told the Wall Street Journal that the dollar was "getting too strong" and would hurt the US economy, reports The Hindu Business Line quoting PTI.
According to forex dealers, a weak domestic equity market and weak macroeconomic data with retail inflation jumping to a 5-month high of 3.81 per cent in March and industrial output contracting by 1.2 per cent in February capped the rupee’s gain.
The rupee opened the session higher by 23 paisa at 64.44 at the Interbank Foreign Exchange market today.
It hovered in a range of 64.48 and 64.26 before quoting at 64.40, up 27 paise at 4.30 pm local time.
Yesterday, the rupee had ended lower by 17 paisa to 64.67 against the US dollar with forex market sentiment taking a hit over growing geopolitical tensions at the global level.
The benchmark BSE index closed down by 182.03 points or 0.61 per cent at 29,461.45.
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Hindu Business Line file photo

Mumbai, India (BBN) - The Indian rupee strengthened by 30 paisa to 64.37 against the US dollar in early trade on fresh selling of the American currency by banks and exporters.
Besides, dollar's weakness against other currencies overseas supported the rupee, forex dealers said, reports The Hindu Business Line quoting PTI.
They said a weak domestic equity market and weak macroeconomic data with retail inflation jumping to a 5-month high of 3.81 per cent in March and industrial output contracting by 1.2 per cent in February capped the rupee’s gain.
Yesterday, the rupee had ended lower by 17 paisa to 64.67 against the US dollar with forex market sentiment taking a hit over growing geopolitical tensions at the global level.
Meanwhile, the benchmark BSE Sensex dropped by 73.15 points or 0.28 per cent to 29,570.33 in early trade.
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BBN file photo

Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN) - The exchange rate of Bangladesh Taka (BDT) depreciated by maximum two paisa more against the US currency in early hour transactions on Thursday in inter-bank foreign exchange (forex) market.
The US dollar was quoted at maximum BDT 79.80 against BDT 79.78 of the previous working day till the report was filed at 11:18 pm (local time).
“The local currency may depreciate more against the US currency in the next week due to lower supply of the greenback in the market,” a senior treasury official of a leading private commercial bank (PCB) told BBN in Dhaka.
He also said the BDT also depreciated by nearly eight paisa against the US dollar at customer level on the same on the same ground.
The average exchange rate of the US dollar at customer level rose to BDT 80.9215 on Wednesday from BDT 80.8460 of the previous day.
“The depreciating mode of BDT may continue in the coming days due to higher demand for the greenback in the market for settlement of import-payment obligations,” another treasury official explained.
However, the inter-bank call money rate remained stable in the range between 3.00 per cent and 4.50 per cent on Wednesday mainly due to sufficient inflow of fund into the market.
The volume of overall transactions in the inter-bank call money market rose to BDT 63.30 billion on the day from BDT 61.02 billion of the previous working day, according to the central bank latest statistics, released on Thursday Tuesday.
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