Purchasing US dollars from the Bangladesh Bank is set to get costlier as the central bank is planning to raise its exchange rate above the Tk100-mark by the end of this calendar year.
The central bank's move comes in line with the suggestions from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) team that visited Dhaka recently, to reach a uniform rate of dollar on the market, sources said.
Currently, they are selling dollars to banks at Tk98 each, which is planned to be revised to cross Tk100 each by December.
Seeking anonymity, a BB official said the central bank wants to reach the target of a unified market rate of dollarS, which was suggested by the IMF representatives during their recent visit.
As part of the plan, the central bank has already increased the rate by Tk1 on November 10 to fix it at Tk98 each, but the interbank weighted average rate of dollar is Tk103.
As part of the reserve tightening move amid the ongoing volatile global economic situation, the BB is encouraging import of the most essential goods only.
So, the banks that facilitate import of such essential items will face some pressure to meet their dollar requirement from the central bank.
Bankers think the move will cause more pressure on the banks' local currency reserve, as the financial institutions will have to use more local currency to meet their foreign currency obligation.