BAFEDA may discuss forex market issue with BB soon

FE Team | Published: March 24, 2011 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00

Siddique Islam
The Bangladesh Foreign Exchange Dealers' Association (BAFEDA) is likely to meet the central bank authority shortly to discuss ways for bringing normalcy in the country's foreign exchange market. The decision was taken at a meeting of the executive committee of the Association held at its office Wednesday with its chairman SM Aminur Rahman in the chair. "We're watching the forex market closely. We'll meet the central bank authority in this connection if required," a senior member of the BAFEDA told the FE after the meeting. He also said the BAFEDA reviewed the country's overall forex market situation cautiously during the meeting. The BAFEDA's decision came against the backdrop of rising trend of inter-bank US dollar rate in recent days following higher demand for the greenback to settle import payments by the commercial banks. The rate of the US dollar in the inter-bank foreign exchange moved upward further Wednesday due to buying pressures from the large commercial banks, treasury officials said. The US dollar was quoted at Tk 72.50-Tk 72.62 in the inter-bank foreign exchange market on the day against Tk 72.40 -Tk 72.50 of the previous working day. "The rate of US dollar in the inter-bank market has increased because of high demand. It's a normal practice of the floating exchange rate (FER) regime," a senior official of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) told the FE. He also said the central bank is monitoring the overall foreign exchange market situation closely. Bangladesh Taka (BDT) depreciated by 0.72 per cent against the US dollar in the last four days, following an increased demand for the greenback to settle import payments by the commercial banks. The US dollar was quoted at Tk 72.40-Tk 72.50 in the inter-bank foreign exchange market Tuesday against Tk 71.94-Tk 71.98 on March 17, the BB data showed. On the other hand, the rate of the US dollar for BC (bills for collection) selling to open letters of credit against imports increased slightly Wednesday which indicates higher demand for the greenback in the market, the treasury officials observed.