Taka depreciates, 1 USD now Tk 93.45

The US dollar today became more costlier as the local currency depreciated once again in the inter-bank platform.

The exchange rate of the taka stood at Tk 93.45 per dollar on Tuesday in contrast to Tk 92.95 on Monday.

The exchange rate of the taka was Tk 84.82 each dollar on June 28 last year.

The country's foreign exchange market is facing a shortage of US dollars due to the soaring import payments and the declining trend of remittance.

Import payments have shot up since the end of last year because of the rising prices of commodities in the global market.

Between July and April, imports went up by 41 per cent to $68.66 billion, while exports grew 35 per cent to $41 billion. This resulted in a record trade deficit -- the gap between exports and imports -- of $27.56 billion, up 53 per cent year-on-year.

The remittance, the cheapest source of foreign currencies for Bangladesh, fell 16 per cent year-on-year to $19.2 billion in the first 11 months of the fiscal year.

All these led to the decline in the foreign exchange reserves to $41.7 billion on June 28, which was $46.15 billion on December 31.