Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN) – The US dollar gained further against Bangladesh Taka (BDT) on Wednesday both in inter-bank foreign exchange market and customer’s level due mainly to higher demand for the greenback, treasury officials said.

The greenback was quoted at an average of BDT 76.0242 on Wednesday for sales of bills for collection (BC) to open letters of credit (LCs) against imports. It was quoted at Tk 75.9998 Tuesday, market operators said.

The US dollar was quoted at BDT 75.48 in the inter-bank foreign exchange market on the day against BDT 75.41-BDT 75.45 of the previous working day, they added.

The exchange rates of US currency have maintained an upward trend both in inter-bank foreign exchange market and at customer’s level in the last one month, due mainly to settling of large import payments for petroleum products, fertiliser, edible oil and scrap vessels.

“The exchange rate of US dollar may ease in the near future, with the expected increase of inward remittance inflow, ahead of the Eid-ul-Azha festival. But the trend may not continue in the long run because of the ongoing pressure on the country’s balance of payments,” a senior treasury official of a leading foreign commercial bank told BBN in Dhaka.

BBN/SSR/AD-06Oct11-1:12 am (BST)