Taka weakens further against US dollar
Depreciation of 80 poisha between Jan 02 and Oct 07
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The exchange rate of local currency depreciated further against the US dollar on Monday mainly due to higher demand for the greenback for settling the import bills.
The Bangladesh Taka (BDT) lost its value by 5.0 poisha in the inter-bank foreign exchange market on the day after a couple of working days, according to market operators.
The US dollar was quoted at Tk 84.70 each in the inter-bank forex market on the day against Tk 84.65 of the previous working day, they added.
"The exchange rate of BDT fell against the US currency in the last trading hour on the day," a market insider told the FE.
He also said the exchange rate of local currency remained unchanged against the US dollar at the customer level for settling import payment obligations.
The exchange rate of the US dollar was quoted at maximum of Tk 84.75 each for sale of Bill for Collection on Monday unchanged from the previous level, he added.
"Definitely, it will help export earnings as well as the flow of inward remittance," Syed Mahbubur Rahman, chairman of the Association of Bankers, Bangladesh (ABB), told the FE while replying to a query.
Mr. Rahman, managing director and chief executive officer of Dhaka Bank, said such depreciation will also help improve competitiveness of exporters in the global market to some extent.
The BDT's latest depreciation came against the backdrop of falling trend in the export earnings during the first quarter (Q1) of the current fiscal year (FY) 2019-20.
Bangladesh's overall export earnings decreased by nearly 3.0 per cent to US$ 9.65 billion in Q1 FY '20 from US$ 9.94 billion in the same period of the previous fiscal year, according to the latest data released by the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) on Sunday.
Meanwhile, the local currency depreciated by 80 poisha against the greenback in the inter-bank forex market from January 02 to October 07.
The greenback was quoted at Tk 84.70 each in the interbank market on Monday against Tk 83.90 on January 02 this calendar year. Earlier, on October 03, the local currency lost its value by 15 poisha against the US currency on the same ground.
The demand for the US currency is gradually increasing mainly due to higher import payment obligations -- particularly for intermediate goods, fuel oils and capital machinery.