Business Desk :
The Association of Bankers of Bangladesh (ABB) on Thursday urged the Bangladesh Bank to make the inter-bank foreign exchange market vibrant to ease the ongoing forex pressure in the financial sector.
ABB Chairman Selim RF Hussain made the call at a press conference at Brac Bank head office in the capital.
The ABB is a platform of managing directors of all banks in Bangladesh.
Hussain said it is very important to create confidence among banks on the market to activate the inter-bank foreign exchange market.
If the banks get confidence, they will buy and sell dollars among each other through this marketplace, Hussain said.
If no one intervenes, confidence on the market will be strengthened, he opined.
Multiple officials of Bangladesh Bank and commercial banks recently alleged that the central bank has been intervening the market frequently to keep the exchange rate of the taka against the dollar high artificially.
The exchange rate of the taka against the dollar on Thursday stands at Tk 94.70 for each dollar in contrast to Tk 84.80 a year ago.
This means the local currency depreciated 11.67 per cent in the platform in the last one year.
But importers are now counting Tk 105-106 to purchase a dollar from banks, which is contradicting the inter-bank rate thoroughly.
There is a large gap between the inter-bank rate and the respective rate quoted by banks, this is why banks are not getting encouraged to continue their trade through the marketplace, the officials said.
The bankers also alleged that the central bank frequently set the inter-bank exchange rate giving verbal instructions.
The inter-bank platform should be operated based on the demand and supply of the greenback, said Hussain, also the managing director of Brac Bank.
He, however, said that it was difficult to follow a floating exchange rate between the dollar and taka completely.
“The developed countries even manage their floating rate in different ways.
