The taka lost maximum seven poisha in single-day depreciation against the US dollar on Bangladesh's interbank foreign-exchange (forex) market Monday.
Bankers said the local currency took such a tumble after more than nine months on the country's money market.
The US dollar was quoted at Tk 78.68-Tk 78.72 Monday against Tk 78.65 of the previous working day, according to treasury officials of the commercial banks.
They also said the US currency was quoted at Tk 78.57-Tk78.60 on February 02, 2016 against Tk 78.50-Tk78.55 of the previous level.
"Such depreciating trend of the Bangladesh Taka (BDT) against the US currency may continue in the coming days for meeting a growing demand for the US dollar in the market," a senior treasury official of a leading private commercial bank (PCB) told the FE. He also said higher import-payment obligations pushed up the demand for the greenback in recent times.
The country's overall imports increased by more than 12 per cent or $370.34 million in October over the previous month due mainly to higher imports of industrial raw materials and capital machinery.
The actual import in terms of settlement of letters of credit (LC) rose to US$3.36 billion in October 2016 from $2.99 billion a month before, according to the Bangladesh Bank (BB) latest statistics.
On the other hand, the opening of LCs, known as import orders in business circles, grew 8.78 per cent to $3.83 billion during the period from $3.52 billion in September 2016.
The demand for the dollar normally rises before each calendar year ending for remitting profits of multinational companies, the treasury official explained. "The exchange rate of BDT against the US dollar has been fixed in line with the market requirement," a BB senior official said while explain the latest situation on the forex market.
Bangladesh received $ 795 million as remittances between November 01 and November 25 from Bangladeshi nationals working abroad, the BB data showed.
It was estimated at $1.01 billion in October 2016, down by $44.66 million from the level of the previous month.
Earlier on October 27 last, the BDT entered into a depreciating trend against the US dollar after maintaining stability for more than seven months on the inter-bank forex market.
The US dollar was quoted at Tk 78.40-Tk 78.42 on the inter-bank forex market on October 27 last against Tk 78.40 of the previous level.
Earlier on March 13, the US dollar was quoted at Tk 78.40.
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