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Comes a turnaround

Taka gains against dollar after serial depreciation

Siddique Islam | June 09, 2022 00:00:00


A turnaround comes as the Bangladesh taka gained 50 paisa in its value against the US dollar Wednesday after a depreciation dive for four consecutive workdays.

The US currency was quoted at Tk 91.50 per unit on the day against Tk 92.00 of the previous working day, according to market operators.

"Banks have behaved more rationally in quoting exchange rates, particularly on the inter-bank market," Md Serajul Islam, a Bangladesh Bank (BB) spokesperson, told the FE while explaining the latest situation on the foreign-exchange market.

Most banks quoted maximum Tk 93.00 for the sale of bills for collection, generally known as BC, for settling import payments on Wednesday-unchanged from the previous level, the market operators added.

They, however, said a few banks were still quoting higher rates for both BC selling and overseas exchange houses, bypassing their announced rates.

Meanwhile, the central bank sought explanation from a leading private commercial bank (PCB) Wednesday for allegedly quoting higher rate at Tk 97.50 for purchasing US$5.0 million from Bangladesh Cricket Board.

"We've asked the bank to submit their explanation to the department concerned of the central bank by tomorrow (Thursday)," a top central banker told the FE.

He also said the central bank would take the next course of action after receiving their explanation.

Meanwhile, the central bank continues its foreign-currency liquidity support in a bigger way to scheduled banks for managing forex-market volatility.

It sold $124 million directly to nine banks Wednesday to help them meet a growing demand for the greenback.

Earlier on Tuesday, the central bank sold $129 million directly to five banks on the same ground.

It has so far injected $6.60 billion from the reserves directly into commercial banks as liquidity support for settling their import-payment obligations in the current fiscal year (FY), 2021-22.

Bangladesh's forex reserves came down to $41.75 billion on Wednesday from $41.89 billion on the previous working day following higher sales of the greenback from the reserves.

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