Dollar exchange rate now stands at Tk 92.40

Bangladesh Bank has brought down the value of the taka against the dollar by 50 paisa. The exchange rate has now been fixed at Tk 92.50, from the previous Tk 92. Bangladesh Bank is referring to this as the ‘interbank rate’. With this, the central bank has increased the rate of the dollar by over Tk 6 in the last two months.

Dollars have been sold to the banks at this new rate in order to pay up the government import bills. So this is the official dollar exchange rate. The government and international agencies calculate the taka value against the dollar at this rate.

The banks, however, are taking more than Tk 95 per dollar from the importers and bringing in remittance at Tk 93.94 per dollar.

Bangladesh Bank’s executive director and spokesperson Sirajul Islam told Prothom Alo, “Bangladesh Bank isn’t fixing the price of the dollar. The central bank takes selects a rate from the transactions being carried out by the banks. Today it has taken the Tk 92.40 exchange rate into consideration. It has sold dollars at this rate.”

Bangladesh Bank has lifted the ceiling on the rate of the dollar to bring in overseas remittance. The central bank has informed the banks that they can determine the rate of the dollar in consistence with the market. Since then the dollar rate has been rising steadily.

With the taka being devaluated yet another time, import expenditure will increase and the exporters will benefit. The taka is generally devaluated to benefit the exporters. The exporters have been demanding this for long, but now Bangladesh Bank has been forced to take this step.

With the price of imported commodities going up along with shipping costs, import expenditure has gone up by almost 44 per cent. This cannot be covered by export earnings and remittance. This has created the dollar crisis. The central bank is selling dollars from its reserves in order to tackle the situation. This has pushed the dollar rates up.