Taka depreciated deeply against the dollar on both interbank and kerb markets on Monday in defiance of preventive drives, prompting the regulator to caution six banks against distorting the market.
The price of cash dollar hit an all-time high at Tk 115 on the open market, generally known as kerb market, in the capital on Monday evening due mainly to short supply of the greenback in hot demand.
"The price of cash dollar increased significantly on the day mainly due to the short-supply of the greenback in the market," a senior currency trader told the FE while explaining the situation.
Sources said the central bank asked managing directors (MDs) and chief executive officers (CEOs) of six commercial banks--five private commercial banks (PCBs) and one foreign commercial bank (FCB) - to attach their treasury heads with human resources (HR) department immediately as they allegedly fueled the foreign-exchange mark recently through quoting 'unusual' higher prices of the greenback.
"We've already sent letters to the banks concerned in this connection," a senior official of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) told the FE on Monday night, without naming names of the banks at fault.
Earlier, the central bank had completed on-site inspections into 16 banks, including four state-owned commercial banks (SoCBs), to find out alleged 'distortion' on foreign-exchange rate by the banks concerned besides other foreign-exchange issues.
Rate distortion means banks charge higher price of the US currency bypassing their announced rates, particularly for BC (bills for collection) selling and TT (Telegraphic Transfer) clean.
The central banker also says the BB is likely to take more actions against banks which have violated the existing rules and regulations after completing official formalities.
Meanwhile, six teams of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) continued their drives at different moneychanger houses in Dhaka on Monday.
The local currency lost its value by 30 paisa on the inter-bank foreign-exchange (forex) market on the day following higher demand for the greenback for settling import payments.
The US currency was quoted at Tk 95.00 each on the day against Tk 94.70 on the previous working day. It was Tk 94.45 on July 25.
The local currency has lost its value by Tk 9.20 or 10.72 per cent since January 2022. The dollar traded at Tk 85.80 on January 08 last.
Earlier in the day, the banks quoted maximum Tk 95.00 for the sale of bills for collection, generally known as BC, for settling import payments on the day to their customers against Tk 94.75 of the previous working day.
Some banks now trade the greenback at rates ranging between Tk 95.00 and Tk 112 to their customers for settling import-payment obligations ignoring their announced rates, according to market operators.
On the other hand, the banks also quoted the dollar at maximum at Tk 94.00 on the day to remitters as well as realised export proceeds or TT clean of their funds against Tk 93.75 of the previous working day, they added.
Currently, the local currency is maintaining a depreciating mode against the dollar mainly due to higher outflow of foreign exchange following 'hefty growth' in import payments compared to the inflow in the last few months.
Meanwhile, the central bank sat with 11 leading authorized dealer (AD) bankers on the day to know about the latest situation on cash dollar in the banking system.
At the meeting, the banks were asked to act properly for selling cash dollar to the clients.
The instructions were made at the meeting held at the central bank headquarters in Dhaka on the day with its deputy governor Ahmed Jamal in the chair.
"We've discussed latest cash-dollar situation in the banking system at the meeting," a senior BB official told the FE after the meeting.
However, the central bank continues to provide its foreign-currency support to scheduled banks for managing the forex-market volatility.
It sold $139 million more directly to six commercial banks on Monday to help them meet a growing demand for the greenback--as global price rises have led to import-cost escalation with its resultant pressures on reserves of Bangladesh, as also of many other countries.
The BB has so far injected $1.49 billion from the reserves directly into commercial banks as liquidity support for import payments in the current fiscal year (FY), 2022-23.
In FY'22, the central bank sold $7.62 billion from the reserves to the banks for the same purpose.
Bangladesh's forex reserves came down to $39.60 billion on Monday from $39.66 billion of the previous working day following higher sales of dollar to feed the market.
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