Written by The Banking Post
Dhaka, July 24: The Bangladesh Taka (BDT) continued to weaken against the US dollar on Wednesday, despite sustained interventions by the Bangladesh Bank (BB) in the foreign exchange market.
As part of its latest effort to stabilise the currency, the central bank purchased $10 million from a leading commercial bank through an auction. The cut-off rate rose to Tk 121.95 per dollar, up from Tk 121.50 in the previous intervention, according to BB officials.
Since launching its intervention drive on July 13, the BB has purchased a total of $494 million across three auctions to boost foreign exchange reserves amid mounting import payments and global economic pressures.
“We’re intervening in the market whenever necessary to keep the exchange rate at a tolerable level,” a senior BB official told The Financial Express. He added that the central bank is also prepared to sell dollars if the greenback continues to gain against the taka.
Despite the interventions, the taka depreciated by 23 paisa against the dollar on Wednesday. The BB’s reference rate increased to Tk 121.94 at 5:00pm, compared to Tk 121.71 on the previous working day. Since July 13, the local currency has weakened by Tk 1.27 against the dollar.
The reference rate is based on the Bangladesh Foreign Exchange Market Spot Reference Rate, a transaction-weighted average of spot forex trades worth $100,000 or more across all 61 authorised dealer (AD) banks.
These trades include export encashment, commercial remittances, deals with exchange houses, LC payments, outbound remittances, and interbank forex transactions.
The central bank compiles this data daily to set the benchmark rate for formal foreign exchange dealings in the banking sector.
