BAFEDA to seek BB’s support

The Bangladesh Foreign Exchange Dealers Association (BAFEDA) has decided to seek the Bangladesh Bank’s (BB) support for implementing a uniform exchange rate for the US dollar.

The decision was made during a meeting of the technical committee of BAFEDA on Wednesday. Committee Chairman and Mercantile Bank’s head of treasury Ashim Kumar Saha presided over it.

A committee member, requesting anonymity, told The Business Post that different banks are now quoting different rates while collecting US dollars from the foreign exchange houses and this is playing a role in creating instability in the forex market.

The member said the uniform exchange rate will never be implemented without the central bank’s support. “We need BB to issue a circular implementing the uniform exchange rate. The banks will then have to comply with the rate,” said the committee member.

The member also said that the technical committee’s decision will be given to the BAFEDA executive committee and it, in turn, will request the central bank to hold a meeting on this issue.

On Wednesday, banks collected US dollars from the foreign exchange houses at the rate of Tk 109 to Tk 112 per dollar.