The price of the dollar has reached Tk117.5 in the kerb market, which is more than double compared to the previous months. As of Wednesday, currency exchange markets traded $1 for Tk117.50.
As a result, the exchange rate gap between official channels and unofficial channels has widened by at least Tk 8.
Currently, the state-owned bank is offering 1 dollar at Tk 109.50, while private commercial banks are providing it at Tk 111.50 per dollar. As a rule, money exchange markets can sell the dollar with the highest Tk1 spread.
Sellers in Kerb markets claimed they cannot get the dollar in demand.
Industry insiders say the higher illegal cross-border transactions, the lower deposits of the USD in the banking system, the fixed dollar rate, and the rising numbers of students going abroad are contributing to the growing gap.
Meanwhile, due to the recent crisis, most of the banks are not selling dollars for travel purpose.
Speaking to The Business Post, Director of the Policy Research Institute Executive Ahsan H. Mansur said, “The dollar market situation has become volatile again. The interbank market will be in trouble as the Bangladesh Bank (BB) has to be devalued again.”
Money exchangers hold the dollars as they expect the dollar price will rise again, he added. Last year, the dollar rate soared to Tk122.
Then BB took many measures to handle the dollar price. Since September 2022, the Association of Bankers of Bangladesh (ABB) and the Bangladesh Foreign Exchange Dealers Association (BAFEDA) fixed the dollar for every month.
ABB and BAFEDA fixed the rate for remittances and export. But there are many banks are not following these rules. Dollar market became volatile as several banks are charging higher rates for export proceeds, BB reasoned.
Shamim/Saad
