Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN) – The central bank of Bangladesh on Monday cautioned the country’s exporters to be careful about any deal with their buyers to avert any risks in view of the ongoing global financial crisis.
“There is a recent tendency that importers place huge orders when they reach the verge of bankruptcy. So, the exporters particularly in the readymade garment (RMG) sector must remain alert,” Bangladesh Bank (BB) Governor Salehuddin Ahmed told reporters at a press conference at the central bank in Dhaka on Monday.
Mentioning the East Asian crisis in 1997, the BB governor said importers of the Western world may place huge orders before reaching possible bankruptcy. “It’s a technique that was resorted to during the Asian crisis,” he noted.
The central bank chief also said the RMG exporters should examine the financial position along with rating reports of importers concerned when they place increasing orders for shipments.
Besides, the central bank is watching closely the currencies movement of different countries including the competitors of Bangladesh in the global market, Mr. Ahmed said.
But he ruled out depreciation of the local currency against the US dollar at this moment saying that Bangladesh taka (BDT) was depreciated against US dollar marginally in line with the market demand.
“We’re now monitoring currencies’ movement closely. But the central bank will not take any hurried measures in this connection,” he added.
In the last week, BDT was devalued marginally by 0.09 per cent against US dollar as the demand for greenback increased in the market.
The exchange rate of dollar hovered between BDT 68.52 and BDT 68.58 in the inter-bank foreign exchange market against the previous week’s single rate of BDT 68.52, market operators said.
The BB governor recognized that the currencies in most of the countries other than China had been depreciated, but said the BDT remained stable for quite a long time that helped reduce the import cost of the country.
BBN/SSR/SI/AD-28October08-10:51 AM (BST)
