The Bangladesh Bank has incurred a loss of Tk 55 crore from its foreign exchange deal with Islami Bank centring the introduction of the crawling peg exchange rate system.
It hits $31.15 billion today
The deficit in Bangladesh’s financial account widened further in the first nine months of the ongoing fiscal year, an indication that the current instability in the foreign exchange market will continue in the coming months.
The earnings of foreign banks operating in Bangladesh rocketed in 2022 buoyed by their incomes from the dealings of international currencies.
A wide gap in formal and informal exchange rate has been one of the factors behind the sharp fall in the foreign exchange reserves in Bangladesh as it shifts remittances from official channels to unofficial routes and impedes repatriation of export proceeds, said the World Bank.
Biman directors have accepted in principle a proposal to buy 10 Airbus planes.
Bangladesh Bank’s foreign exchange reserves invested in US dollars declined 34 per cent year-on-year to $23.63 billion in February as the country is heavily dependent on the American greenback to settle payments for global trade.
The Bangladesh Bank is yet to take any visible measure in line with a commerce ministry directive aimed at asking banks to earmark a portion of their foreign currency holdings to open letters of credit to import essentials ahead of Ramadan.
Bangladesh Bank Governor Abdur Rouf Talukder has said there will be no foreign exchange crisis from January 2023, as the country's exports and remittances are in surplus compared to imports.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today (October 12, 2022) called for boosting the country's farm products to help diversify the export basket and earn more in foreign exchange.
Foreign investors in Bangladesh’s stock market are selling shares en masse as the local currency’s depreciation against the US dollar coupled with various policy changes over the past few years has lowered their confidence in securing adequate returns.
The economy needs firm handling to ensure the situation doesn't turn into a crisis.
The record fuel price hike last week has thrown a spanner in the works to the finance division’s projection of bringing the twin problems of inflation and delicate foreign currency reserves under control by December.
The rise in fuel prices is an illogical decision that will only harm ordinary citizens and fail to deal with the root causes of the crisis that Bangladesh is currently facing.
Fighting tax evasion, preventing trade-based illicit financial outflows and ending the culture of money laundering and loan defaults is a much more sustainable solution to adding to foreign exchange reserves than taking foreign loans on interest.
One dollar now costs almost Tk 100. The taka has been losing its value against the US dollar for months, with no signs of it changing.
For the first time, Pakistan’s remittances crossed the figure of $3 billion in a month, which gave hope that the country would achieve its annual remittance target of $30bn.
The Bangladesh Bank (BB) has found that a state-owned bank is openly skirting rules when it comes to foreign exchange transactions. Several major business houses which have been allowed to open letters of credit (LC) and transfer funds abroad, have not submitted bills of entry, which is a proof of goods entering country.
The Bangladesh Bank has detected some gross violations in foreign exchange transactions that have raised concerns about money laundering.
