IMF mission for uniform US dollar rate

The International Monetary Fund's (IMF) visiting staff consultation mission suggested a uniform exchange rate of US dollar instead of existing different rates.

It also wanted to know about Bangladesh's export growth this year and the government's steps to increase export during a meeting with Senior Commerce Secretary Tapan Kanti Ghosh at the ministry on Tuesday.

The commerce secretary said the Bangladesh Bank (BB) is working to implement a uniform dollar exchange rate for export and import from July 2023.

Regarding the country's export earnings, he noted that necessary initiatives have been taken to expand exports to new markets with new products.

Besides, the government is simplifying procedure to reduce the cost of doing business for businesses and exporters. The renewal period of various licences has been made five years, he added.

The international lender also inquired about delayed submission of the country's export proceeds and wanted to know whether the exporters were willing to repatriate their total export proceeds or not.

In response to the queries, Mr Ghosh said the amount of non-repatriated export income increased to US$ 3.0 billion. It is not correct that the exporters are not repatriating their export earnings.

rezamumu@gmail.com