The exchange rate of Bangladesh Taka (BDT) depreciated further against the US dollar Thursday mainly due to higher demand for the greenback for settling the import bills.
The local currency depreciated by 10 poisha in the inter-bank foreign exchange (forex) market on the day, the market operators said.
The US dollar was quoted at Tk 83.70 each in the inter-bank forex market on the day against Tk 83.60 of the previous working day, they said.
Earlier on Tuesday, the local currency depreciated by 50 poisha in a single day in the inter-bank forex on the same ground.
On the other hand, the central bank of Bangladesh has continued its foreign currency support to the banks for settling import payment obligations particularly for food grains, fuel oils and capital machinery.
As part of the move, the BB sold US$30 million directly to 12 commercial banks Thursday to meet the growing demand for the greenback in the market.
Talking to the FE, a senior official of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) said the central bank sold the US currency to the banks for making their import payment bills.
"We may continue such foreign currency support to the banks in line with the market requirement," the central banker hinted.
The BB has resumed providing the foreign exchange support in recent months through selling of the US currency to the banks directly to keep the market stable.
A total of $2.09 billion was sold since July 01 of the current fiscal year (FY) 2017-18 to the commercial banks as part of its ongoing support, according to BB's latest data.
The demand for the US dollar is gradually increasing, mainly due to higher import payments pressure, particularly of capital machinery, petroleum products and consumer items including food grains, according to the market operators.
Meanwhile, the overall imports grew by more than 14 per cent in the first nine months of the FY 18 mainly due to higher import of food grains and fuel oils.
The settlement of letters of credit (LCs), generally known as actual import, rose to US$38.41 billion in terms of value during the July-March period in the FY 2017-18 from $ 33.63 billion in the same period of the previous fiscal.
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