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The interbank exchange rate of the US dollar against Bangladeshi taka starts moving up slowly following the implementation of market-driven exchange-rate regime.
Because of the rise, the reference rate published by Bangladesh Bank (BB), the country's central bank, rose to Tk 122.31 per dollar at the end of the business hours on Monday, up from Tk 121.99 on Sunday.
According to BB data, commercial banks on Monday traded deals amounting to $16.10 million on the interbank spot market where the lowest and the highest rates were recorded at Tk 122.60 and Tk 122.75 per dollar respectively.
Requesting anonymity, a BB official said the exchange rate has started rising on the market under the floating exchange rate regime and the central bank has been monitoring the market so that it behaves maturely and rationally.
Terming the rise very logical, the banker said it shows a sign of stability on the foreign-exchange market mainly because of higher supply against lower demand amid persisting economic sluggishness.
The BB official said the exchange rate remains stable even in the more flexible regime as they did not see any unusual rate fluctuation over the last few days after the regime shift.
He said the supply of foreign currencies continued rising while the demand was not so high, as foreign currencies amounting to around $3.5 billion are expected to come from donor agencies like the IMF, the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and Japan International Cooperation Agency.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, treasury head of a commercial bank said many banks are still very conscious about foreign exchange deals. "They (the banks) are observing the market very closely," he said.
The treasury official said the highest rate for purchasing a US dollar was recorded at Tk 122.75 on Monday. "I think the rate will remain stable because of growing supply and relatively lesser demand."
According to BB data, the country's growing foreign exchange reserves stood at $25.44 billion on Monday as per BB calculations. In terms of IMF's arithmetic, the volume of reserves was $20.07 billion.
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