The Bangladesh Bank (BB) on Sunday told all commercial banks to relax their margin rate against opening of import letters of credit (LCs) for eight essential food items at a minimum level to keep their prices tolerable and ensure adequate supply during the month of Ramadan.
The eight food items were edible oil, sugar, chickpeas, pulses, beans, onions, dates and spices, as per a circular issued on the day.
The central bank also asked all banks to keep the opening margin rate at the minimum level based on banker-customer relations, with immediate effect.
They also fixed the opening margin rate for the settlement of letter of credit at 75% to limit imports to save the depleting forex reserves.