The central bank of Bangladesh moves to import cash US dollar through a commercial bank to feed a growing demand for the greenback on the market.
Officials said the disclosure was made at a meeting of bankers, held in the central bank headquarters in the capital Tuesday with Bangladesh Bank (BB) Governor Fazle Kabir in the chair.
"We're now working for importing the cash US dollar after the waving of all kinds of taxes on such import," SK Sur Chowdhury, deputy governor of the BB, told the FE after the meeting was over.
He said the central bank had already sent a letter to the National Board of Revenue (NBR) seeking tax waver on the planned dollar import.
The central bank has already started preparation to import dollars worth 4.0 million through a foreign commercial bank to meet the demand for the cash greenback on the market, according to a BB official.
The central bank has made the move against the backdrop of short supply of the cash US currency on the local forex market in the recent months.
Most of the banks are charging maximum Tk 84 for one cash dollar. The rate is higher by Tk 1.50 on the open market.
However, the US dollar quoted Tk 78.70 on the inter-bank foreign- exchange market Tuesday, unchanged from the level of previous working day.
The local currency, Taka, appreciated more than two paisa against the US dollar at customer level on the day.
The average exchange rate of the US dollar at customer level came down to Tk 79.2712 on the day from Tk 79.2971 of the previous working day, according to data from the Bangladesh Foreign Exchange Dealers' Association (BAFEDA).
Talking to the reporters, Shubhankar Saha, spokesperson for the BB, said the central bank made the latest move to make the exchange rate rational.
He also said the BB asked the bankers to implement the policy for good borrowers properly.
Earlier on March 19 last year, the central bank had issued a policy for good borrowers for the first time aiming to establish a sound credit culture.
Under the existing policy, a borrower will be considered good one if his or her loan accounts -- continuous, demand and term -- are unclassified-standard for three consecutive years.
The good borrowers will enjoy 10 per cent rebate on interest, paid by them, in the third year. Such a facility will remain effective in the following years, if the borrowers continue to be goodies.
Besides, the good borrowers will be eligible for getting an enhanced credit facility to meet their requirements, according to the policy.
The borrowers will not be considered good if any loan of their affiliated business entities is identified as classified in previous three years.
At least four commercial banks have already provided such rebate to their good borrowers for 2015.
"We've asked other banks to provide such rebate to their good borrowers properly," Mr. Sur Chowdhury said while replying to a query.
The chief executive officer of a commercial bank, however, said the central bank will act as per good-borrower policy if the clients lodge complaint with the BB. "No complaint, no problem."
At the same meeting, the central bank asked the banks to levy charges and fees on only six types of services for lending to cottage, micro, small and medium entrepreneurs instead of the existing 12 types of services to facilitate the sector.
The six categories of services are loan application, documentation, CIB, stamp, legal and valuation service and early settlement, according to the BB officials.
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