Exporters for fixing dollar rate to reduce discrepancy

The Bangladesh Frozen Foods Exporters Association (BFFEA) on Thursday demanded to set the US dollar rate afresh to reduce the gap between the exchange rates in collecting remittance and export bill encashment.

They also demanded fixing the price of the greenback by Tk 1 margin as before, the association said in a press statement.

Earlier on Sunday, the Bangladesh Foreign Exchange Dealers’ Association (BAFEDA) fixed a uniform exchange rate of the US dollar to curb the instability in the foreign exchange market.

The apex body of dealer banks set a maximum of Tk 108 for foreign exchange houses to collect remittance and Tk 99 for encashment export bills.

On the other hand, the rate of LC (letter of credit) settlement will be the weighted average rate of the above two rates plus 1 taka.

The new rates came into effect on Monday.

Expressing deep concern over the newly fixed dollar rate, BFFEA President Md Amin Ullah said a discrepancy is there in fixing the new rate and it will affect the exporters ultimately.

“The exporters will be discouraged and thus exports will come down while under-invoicing will rise,” he said, adding that the dollar rate may differ by Tk 1 as before in purchasing and selling.

Amin Ullah, however, demanded to set the dollar price in favour of the exporters.