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The interbank exchange rate for the US dollar reached Tk 108.70 each amid ongoing supply dearth of the greenback.
The latest rate is the second-highest after May 22, when it rose to Tk 108.75 per dollar, according to the Bangladesh Bank (BB) statistics.
The country’s commercial banks traded each dollar at Tk 108.70 among themselves on June 11, up by around 20 per cent from that of a year ago, the BB data showed.
The local currency has faced depreciation by around 25 per cent during the last one year due to higher import payments along with slower-than-expected export earnings and remittance inflow.
Bankers said the interbank dollar rate has risen mainly due to an increase in remittance rates as part of the central bank’s move to reach a market-driven exchange rate.
On April 30, the Association of Bankers Bangladesh (ABB) and Bangladesh Foreign Exchange Dealers’ Association (BAFEDA) raised the dollar rate by Tk 1.0 to Tk 108 for remitters.
Since then, the interbank exchange rate keeps increasing almost every working day to reach the record high of Tk 108.75 per dollar on May 22. After that, it declined a bit, but is showing an upward trend again.
When contacted, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Mutual Trust Bank (MTB) Limited Syed Mahbubur Rahman said the commercial banks are trading the greenback through interbank mechanism at a limited scale mainly because of the forex dearth.
He said the central bank is making efforts to reach a market-based exchange rate by removing differences among the rates, and interbank exchange rate is also a part of the initiative.
Even in the half-yearly Monetary Policy Statement (MPS), announced in January, the BB mentioned that the difference in the regulated rates would be maximum two-percentage points.
Seeking anonymity, a central banker said the BB is making policy intervention to reach its target.
The BB official also said the banks and BAFEDA earlier revised the exchange rate upward for export proceeds and remittance to Tk 107 and Tk 108.50 per dollar respectively. On the following day, the BB raised its exchange rate by Tk 1.50 to Tk 106 per greenback.
Such revision would help lessen pressure on the falling forex reserve, which stood at US$ 29.88 billion on June 11, according to him.