Fresh pressure has mounted on the country's foreign exchange market due to increased spending on energy and other commodity imports, coupled with a relatively slow supply of US dollars.
As a result, the price of the dollar is rising, and the growth trend of foreign exchange reserves has come to a standstill.
Most recently, on Tuesday, the dollar rate in the interbank currency market rose to Tk124.35.
On the other hand, over the past two days, several banks remitted inward remittances at a maximum rate of Tk124.70 per dollar.
To increase the supply of dollars in the market, Bangladesh Bank initiated an auction on Tuesday to sell $100 million.
However, after receiving price bids from banks, the auction was canceled at the last moment.
No explicit explanation was provided to the relevant banks regarding the reason for this decision.
According to bankers, the demand for dollars has risen due to higher LNG prices on the international market and increased spending on energy imports.
Conversely, export earnings, remittances, and foreign loan disbursements have not grown at the expected rate, resulting in a supply deficit in the market.
According to Bangladesh Bank data, expatriates remitted $11.46 billion during the July–October period of the current FY27, representing a 13% increase compared to the same period of the previous fiscal year.
During the same period, export earnings grew by 6% to reach $17.04 billion.
However, the surge in import expenditure presents a more concerning picture.
In the first two months of the current fiscal year (July–August), import spending grew by 12.10% year-on-year to reach $12.20 billion.
During this timeframe, expenditure on petroleum imports nearly doubled to $2.49 billion.
Meanwhile, as pressure on the dollar market mounts, foreign exchange reserves are declining.
On Tuesday, the country's gross reserves stood at $36.43 billion.
Under the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) BPM6 calculation method, the reserve amount stood at $31.56 billion.
According to analysts, in addition to increasing supply to stabilize the dollar market, effective initiatives are required to control import costs and boost export earnings.
Otherwise, volatility in the foreign exchange market could intensify further.