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The government has once again deferred a decision to use taka as headline currency in fixing airfares in Bangladesh until next January 16.
According to officials, this is for the second time the deadline has been extended due to "procedural delays".
In an April 16 circular, civil aviation and tourism ministry asked all local and foreign airlines operating in Bangladesh to charge airfares in taka, effective from July 01.
The ministry made the decision with an eye to creating stability of airfares since local currency taka was facing continuous devaluation and fluctuation as US dollar was rising in price.
The exchange rate between dollar and taka rose from Tk 86 in April 2022 to around Tk 108 in February 2023.
This phenomenal rise of dollar price raised airfares beyond the capacity of outbound people, especially to those who go to the Middle East for low-salaried jobs.
The high air ticket price had been hitting them hard.
Amid heightened demand from travel agencies as well as recruiting agencies, the ministry opted to calculate air ticket fare in taka instead of dollar.
However, in another circular on June 11, the ministry deferred the execution timeline for six months until 01 January 2023.
The circular, however, did not mention any reason behind the deferment of the deadline.
Then again, the ministry on September 12 deferred the date until January 16 next without citing any reason behind this deferral.
Contacted, a senior official of the ministry concerned told the FE that various procedural changes were needed to implement such decisions.
Citing an example, he said the ministry finalised January 01 to effectuate the decision, but it was later found that many countries would be on holiday that time.
"So, we had to put off the date again until January 16," mentioned the official.
About the change of date from July, he said the execution was deferred due to non-fulfillment of requirements like bringing changes on the portal of the International Air Transport Association (IATA).
The heading of headline currency on the IATA portal needed a change, but it could not be done by then.
That time, the IATA said it would need six months' time to change the heading of the headline currency.
"Our intent was to lower the air ticket fare, especially saving customers from fluctuations in exchange rates," the official said.
The airlines had been saying that they needed to pay twice in converting currencies -- while selling tickets in dollars and again while repatriating money abroad -- thus costing them a lot.
Travel agencies were also facing problems while returning money to passengers in case of non-use of any tickets.
They faced disagreements with passengers while pricing tickets due to exchange rate fluctuations, concluded the official concerned.
syful-islam@outlook.com