The exchange rate of Bangladeshi Taka (BDT) against the US dollar has long been witnessing stability, easing its sales pressure to a greater extent and giving an impetus to the country's foreign-exchange reserves.
The US currency is now selling to importers as well as the inter-bank market at BDT 120 each while buying rate is offered to exporters at BDT 119, according to market operators.
The exchange rate has been maintaining these levels since August 20 last and the operators are expecting it to continue until December next as the mid-rate of crawling peg is unlikely to be reviewed before the next monetary policy, scheduled to be released in January 2025.
"We may review the mid-rate of crawling peg before the next monetary policy at the monetary policy committee meeting," a senior official of the Bangladesh Bank (BB), however, told the FE on Tuesday.
He said the exchange rate of BDT against the US dollar is becoming stable gradually as the inflow of foreign exchange strengthened against its outflow.
Earlier on August 18, the central bank increased the band of the crawling peg, allowing fluctuations of the exchange rate within a predefined range, to 2.5 per cent instead of 1.0 per cent earlier aiming to increase the flow of foreign exchange in the market.
The BB introduced a crawling peg mid-rate of BDT117 in May this year by allowing over 6.3 per cent depreciation of the local currency, which has significantly lost value in the last two and a half years amid falling foreign exchange reserves.
Meanwhile, the country's gross foreign exchange (forex) reserve has enhanced further following lower import payment obligations and higher inflow of remittances.
The forex reserves rose to $25.42 billion on October 28 from $25.30 billion on October 23 as per the traditional calculation method of the central bank. It was $24.86 billion on September 30.
As per the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Balance of Payments International Investment Poisson Manual-six edition, generally known as BMP6, the reserves rose to $19.89 billion during the period under review from $19.81 billion, according to the central bank's latest data.
The IMF-calculated figure was $19.86 billion on September 30.
Talking to the FE, another BB official said higher inflow of remittances has helped the country's forex reserves cross $25 billion.
He also said Bangladesh received $2.06 billion as inward remittances until October 27, 2024.
The flow of inward remittances grew by more than 33 per cent to $6.54 billion in the first quarter (Q1) of the current fiscal year (FY 2024-25), from $4.91 billion in the same period of FY '24.
Besides, purchasing of the US currency from the commercial banks directly has contributed to the growth of the forex reserves in recent days, the central banker explained.
The BB so far this month (October) bought around $50 million from the commercial banks as part of its intervention into the market, the BB data showed. Such buying was $88.50 million in September.
On the other hand, the selling of the greenback from the reserves of the central bank almost suspended recently, contributing to build up the forex reserves.
The central bank sold only $10 million until October 28 to the commercial banks for settling import payment obligations. It was $111 million in September.
On the other hand, the actual import in terms of settlement of letters of credit (LCs) fell by 2.40 per cent to US$ 16.21 billion during the July-September period of the FY'25, from $16.61 billion in the same period of the previous fiscal year, according to the central bank's latest data.
However, the opening of fresh LCs, generally known as import orders, dropped by 6.74 per cent to $15.59 billion in the first three months of this fiscal from $16.72 billion in the same period of FY '24.
siddique.islam@gmail.com