US dollar rises to Tk86.20 in inter-bank currency market

Industry Desk: Bangladesh’s currency has depreciated against the US dollar due to rising import costs. The US dollar was sold at Tk86.20 in the inter-bank market yesterday, which was Tk86 on Tuesday.
On 6 January, the price of per USD was Tk85.80.
The crisis has arisen due to rising import costs and declining remittances, according to people concerned. Foreign exchange reserves were also declining, they said.
However, according to officials of the Bangladesh Bank, the central bank has enough US dollars in reserve.
The demand for the US dollar has recently increased due to high prices of essential commodities, including fuel oil, in international market after the Russia-Ukraine war, they have said. The Bangladesh Bank continues to sell dollars to keep the market afloat.
The central bank has sold more than $3.73 billion from reserves directly to commercial banks in the current fiscal year (2021-2022) to pay their import bills.
The import figures of the bank show that the country’s total imports from July, 2021 to January, 2022 were $45.48 billion. The amount was $29.82 billion during the same period of the previous fiscal year.
According to this statistics, the imports have increased by 52.50% during the period.
But, according to the central bank, the import bills have increased due to higher prices of essential commodities, including petroleum products, in the global market.
The country received $1.5 billion in remittances in February, which is the lowest in 21 months, according to the latest data of the Bangladesh Bank. The latest (See Page-11)

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figure is also 16% lower year-on-year.
In the first eight months of the current financial year, remittances reached $13.44 billion, which is only 52% of the fiscal target. It was $16.69 billion in the corresponding period of the previous year.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh’s current-account deficit exceeded the $10-billion mark during the period under review following the higher import payments alongside a lower inflow of remittances.

The current-account deficit rose to $10.06 billion during the July-January period of FY22 from $8.18 billion a month ago. It was a $1.56 billion surplus in the same period of FY21.