Taka depreciates further

Bangladesh Taka (BDT) depreciated further Monday by 0.19 per cent against the US dollar following increased demand for the greenback to settle import payments by the commercial banks. The US dollar was quoted at Tk 72.30-Tk 72.48 in the inter-bank foreign exchange market on the day against Tk 71.99-Tk 72.40 of the previous working day, according to the central bank statistics. The inter-bank volume of transactions increased substantially on the day after a substantial depreciation of the local currency against the greenback the previous day. On Sunday, the BDT depreciated considerably by 0.58 per cent against the US dollar in a single day since introduction of the floating exchange rate (FER) in 2003, treasury officials said. The inter-bank volume of transactions rose to US$ 52.80 million Monday from $ 13 million of the previous day, the central bank officials said. "It was the highest amount of transaction in the inter-bank foreign exchange market in the last three months," a senior official of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) told the FE. He also said such transactions indicate an increasing trend in supply of the greenback in the market. Transaction of the third currency, popularly known as cross currencies, has been discouraged following appreciation of US dollar in the inter-bank foreign exchange market. "No deal was made using the third currency formula in the last two days because of availability of the US currency in the market," the BB official added.