Business Desk :
Bangladesh Bank has set a gap of Tk1 between the buying and selling rates of dollars for banks to stabilise the foreign exchange market.
The decision was taken at a meeting Bangladesh Bank held with the Association of Bankers Bangladesh (ABB) and the member banks of the Bangladesh Foreign Exchange Dealers’ Association (BAFEDA) on Sunday.
From now, banks cannot make a profit of more than Tk1 per dollar from their weighted average buying cost, the meeting source confirmed.
Soon after the meeting Md Serajul Islam, spokesperson and executive director of Bangladesh Bank said banks have assured to take steps to bring the market to stability very quickly.
“They (Banks) agreed that the market will stabilise soon. Besides, they have been told that the export proceeds of all the exports should be brought back to the country very quickly and monetised.”
Banks usually buy dollars from two sources- remitters and exporters. They buy dollars at different rates from different sources. So, banks will calculate a weighted average of buying cost and charge the highest Tk1 to importers for selling dollars, according to the meeting decision.
The Bangladesh Bank also asked ABB and BAFEDA to work together to open inter-bank exchange operations by October which remained inactive for the last three months.
The inter-bank exchange rate is now Tk 95 per dollar set by the Bangladesh Bank verbally when the dollar price in the open market is above Tk110.
In the kerb market, cash dollar price shot up to Tk120 in the last week.
However, the rate came down to between Tk110 and Tk112 per dollar in the kerb market on Sunday.
