Dollar becomes costlier

Bankers today decided to further depreciate the local currency by hiking the purchase and selling rates of the US dollar to increase the flow of foreign currency through formal channels, according to a top official of a private bank.

As per the latest decision, banks will buy each greenback for Tk 110.5 from exporters and sell it to importers for Tk 111, up by about Tk 0.50 per US dollar, or 0.45 percent, from the rate set by bankers at the end of September.

The decision was taken at a meeting of the Bangladesh Foreign Exchange Dealers' Association (Bafeda) and Association of Bankers, Bangladesh (ABB).

The development comes as taka continues to remain under pressure amid falling foreign exchange reserves as exports and remittance have been falling below the requirement for import bills and other international payments.

Bangladesh's foreign exchange reserves decreased by $60 million in a week to hit $20.89 billion on October 25, according to Bangladesh Bank data.

Besides, the reserve has halved in a span of two years as it was around $40.7 billion in August 2021 and $33.4 billion at the end of June 2022, according to a document of the International Monetary Fund.

The volatility in the global market driven by the Russia-Ukraine war has sent commodity prices higher, hitting the forex reserves of import-dependent countries such as Bangladesh, experts previously said.