Since adopting the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) condition of a market-based exchange rate on May 14, the dollar rate has remained stable but experts say it will take a week before people start seeing changes.
Talking to several banks, Dhaka Tribune found that on Saturday, most banks opened LC at Tk122-Tk122.50.
The average dollar exchange rate published by Bangladesh Bank every day also showed the greenback rate stable at Tk122.
While at the money exchange market and curb market, the dollar’s exchange rate was Tk125.50-Tk126.50.
Although the dollar exchange rate has seen no impact so far, bankers and market insiders predict that it may have some effect on the dollar rate from Sunday-Monday onward.
Two bankers working in the foreign exchange departments of two private banks, and a former leader of the Money Changers Association of Bangladesh told Dhaka Tribune that although the dollar rate has been made market-based, it has not functioned that well yet.
They believe any actual impact on the dollar market can be seen from Sunday.
MS Zaman, president of the Money Changers’ Association of Bangladesh, told Dhaka Tribune: “I express my concern as today’s (Saturday) dollar selling rate was Tk125.50 to Tk126.50. We do not understand how this rate came about. To understand this, we have to compare it with the international market. Maybe we will get an idea from Monday.”
Earlier, Governor Ahsan H Mansur called all bank heads to the Bangladesh Bank head office on May 14 and strictly instructed them not to increase the dollar price.
After that, the same afternoon, he announced the market-based dollar rate regime at a press conference.
Then on May 15, treasury heads from banks sat together and decided not to raise the greenback exchange rate.
Bangladesh Bank has started special monitoring of foreign exchange transactions of eight leading private commercial banks (PCBs) and one state-owned commercial bank (SoCB) to prevent possible volatility in the foreign exchange market.
The teams did on-site inspections at the banks on Wednesday, focusing on alleged “rate distortion” in foreign exchange that may fuel volatility in the market in the near future.
