Business Desk :
The price and sale of the dollar have been increasing gradually in the country’s market as the Covid-19 situation is improving slightly. From July to 28 September in the current fiscal year, the central bank has sold some $786 million to banks.
On 28 September, the central bank sold around $100 million. Of the sales, state-owned Agrani Bank bought $55 million and the rest of the $45 million were sold to other banks.
Earlier on Monday, state-owned Rupali Bank bought $85 million from the central bank.
Executive Director of Bangladesh Bank Sirajul Islam said, “Bangladesh Bank has sufficient dollars reserved. Banks can buy dollars from us as per their demand.”
According to a report published on the central bank’s website, Brac and NRBC Bank had the highest cash dollar exchange rates. The mentioned banks’ dollar exchange rate was Tk88.50 while most other banks sold dollar at Tk87.88.
Meanwhile, as the demand for the dollar spiked, the prices also soared which is reducing the value of taka.
On Wednesday, dollar was being sold at Tk85.47 in the Interbank Money Market. But the dollar is being sold at higher prices in the market.
According to the industry insiders, as the impact of Covid-19 is declining, the remittances coming through the country’s banking channels are also decreasing for the past three months.
The inflow of remittance from expatriate Bangladeshis, which maintained an upward trend throughout the last fiscal year even amid the Covid-19 pandemic, dropped by 19% year-on-year in the first two months of the current fiscal year.
The country received $3.68 billion in remittance in the July-August period of this year, down from $4.56 billion in the same period of last year, according to the Bangladesh Bank.
In August this year, remittance growth fell by around 8% to $1.81 billion, compared to August 2020.
The country’s trade deficit widened by $1.36 billion in the first month of fiscal 2021-2022 amid an export earnings’ contraction against moderate import payments.
The latest Bangladesh Bank data showed that the country’s trade deficit rose to $1.36 billion in July of FY22 from $85 million in the same month of FY21.
