Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)- Declining trend of the US dollar against Bangladesh Taka (BDT) continued in early trading on Wednesday, market operators said.
The US dollar was quoted at BDT 80.70 in the inter-bank foreign exchange market early hours on the day against BDT 80.80 of the previous day, they added.
The exchange rate of greenback may fall further against the local currency if the central bank does not buy the US dollar from the banks directly.
On Tuesday, the Bangladesh Bank (BB) bought US$55 million from three private commercial banks at the market rate to keep the inter-bank foreign exchange market stable.
The central bank on Monday similarly purchased $32 million from five commercial banks on the same ground.
A total of $1.662 billion has been bought from the commercial banks, so far, in the current fiscal year (FY 2012-13) as part of the central bank's intervention in the market, according to the BB officials.
On the other hand, the country's foreign exchange (forex) reserve reached around $12.10 billion Wednesday from $11.93 billion of the previous day, following the US dollar purchase.
"The forex reserve crossed the $12 billion-mark again, following lower import payment pressure, higher growth of inward remittance and rising trend of export proceeds realisation," a central banker told the BBN in Dhaka.
He also expected that the upward trend of forex reserve would continue up to the end of this month.
Bangladesh received $6.111 billion as remittance earnings during July-November period of the FY 13, registering a 24.17 per cent growth over the corresponding period of the previous fiscal, the BB data showed.
The declining trend of overall import payments continued in the recent months due mainly to lower import of food grains and unnecessary goods including luxurious items.
The overall import in term of settlement of letters of credit (LCs) dropped by 4.21 per cent to $2.615 billion in October 2012 from $2.730 billion in the previous month, according to the central bank statistics.
The declining trend of overall import may continue in the near future, following the BB’s ongoing 'cautious' monetary policy to contain the inflationary pressure on the economy, a senior banker said.
On July 18, the BB unveiled its new half-yearly monetary policy statement (MPS), aiming to curb inflation further while ensuring adequate credit flow to the private sector for achieving ‘inclusive’ economic growth.
“Most of the banks are not interested to open LCs for less important products, like - consumer and luxurious goods, in line with the central bank's advice,” a senior official of a leading private commercial bank told the FE.
The central bank of Bangladesh earlier asked the commercial banks to discourage extending credits to less productive sectors for reining in the inflationary pressures on the economy.
BBN/SSR/AD-12Dec12-11:55 am (BST)
