Dollar weakens against taka

The US dollar has weakened against the taka despite the central bank’s intervention to keep the greenback stable. Bangladesh Bank (BB) bought dollars at Tk 77.48 last week against Tk 77.75 in late April. In the inter-bank money market, dollar was being traded at Tk 77.50 and banks were buying it at less than Tk 75 from the public on Thursday. Taka has strengthened against dollar at a time when the Indian rupee has lost ground against the US currency. The BB has been buying the greenback to keep its price stable. It bought $270 million in the 1st 8 days of the current 2014-15 fiscal year which began on July 1. The figure was $5.15 billion in the whole last FY and $4.79 billion in 2012-13 FY. Meanwhile, economist Zaid Bakht has attributed the weakness of the greenback to an increase in the remittance inflow and export earnings. Bakht, Research Director at the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS), said: ‘Even after an increase in import expenditure, the central bank has (foreign exchange) reserves of $ 22 billion, which can meet import cost of more than 7 months.... these reserves have strengthened the taka,’ he said, according to bdnews24.com.