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Taka is continuously depreciating against the American greenback. The local currency has depreciated by 9.24 per cent this year alone.
The inter-bank exchange rate stood at Tk 93.95 per dollar on Wednesday, up from Tuesday’s Tk 93.45.
This was the 19th depreciation of the taka against the USD in 2022. Bangladesh Bank (BB) Executive Director Md Serajul Islam confirmed the latest development to The Business Post.
Earlier, the central bank had allowed dollar free float but unofficially it intervened in the forex market by setting the inter-bank exchange rate. BB is selling the USD every day to banks to cool down the forex market.
On Wednesday, the central bank sold $97 million to banks at the rate of Tk 93.95 per dollar, which is now the official rate.
To help banks settle import bills, BB sold a record $7.62 billion to banks in FY2021-22 and $306 million in the current fiscal year — which started on July 1.
During the last fiscal year’s July-May period, import payments stood at $75.13 billion, up from $50.90 billion from the same period of FY2020-21, as per BB data.
The continuous injection of USD in the banking sector has put pressure on the foreign exchange reserve of Bangladesh.
The forex reserve stood at $39.79 billion on Wednesday, a dip below the mark recorded for the first time since September 2020, as the country cleared $1.99 billion as payment to the Asian Clearing Union (ACU).
The Tehran-based ACU is an arrangement through which participating countries settle import payments for intra-regional transactions. The central banks of the member countries have to make the payments every two months.
