Bankers today decided to cut purchase and selling rates of the US dollar by Tk 0.5 from tomorrow citing improvement in the overall current account, which records the nation's transactions with the rest of the world.

From tomorrow, banks will buy the greenback at Tk 110 the from exporters and remitters and sell the US dollar at Tk 110.5 each, according to a decision taken in a meeting of the Bangladesh Foreign Exchange Dealers' Association and Association of Bankers, Bangladesh, several participants of the meeting said.

Until today, the official purchase rate of US dollar by banks was Tk 110.5 and the selling rate was Tk 111, which most of the banks did not follow, as they were struggling to get the greenback at the prescribed rates from the exporters, and remitters amid shortage of the dollar and speculation of further depreciation of the taka.

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Bankers' decision to appreciate taka draws mixed reactions

The importers have been complaining that they had to spend higher to open letters of credit than the prescribed rate of Tk 111 while bankers said there were facing difficulty to get foreign exchanges from remitters even by paying up to Tk 116 each dollar, including incentives given by the government and the banks from their own expenses.

The decision drew mixed reactions and some heads of treasuries at banks said they want to see how the market reacts.

However, Economist Ahsan H Mansur termed the decision 'inappropriate', saying that the taka is not in a position to appreciate now.