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Dual exchange rates still exist
Dollar mostly steady against taka in forex market
Siddique Islam
3/29/2006
The US dollar was mostly steady against Bangladesh taka (BDT) in the inter-bank foreign exchange market despite presence of dual exchange rates.
Under the dual exchange rates, one exchange rate for export-import business and remittances is fixed by the nationalised commercial banks (NCBs), which is lower than the other rate set by the private commercial banks (PCBs) and the foreign commercial banks (FCBs).
Meanwhile, a good number of importers are moving to the state-owned commercial banks to avail the benefits of lower rates for foreign currencies at import level, sources in the market said.
At the same time, the NCBs are gradually losing the flow of inward remittances for quoting lower rates for telegraphic transfer (TT) which is applicable for inward remittances.
The NCBs quoted the rates for TT clean at Tk 69.02-69.05 Tuesday while the PCBs and the FCBs offered Tk 71.00-71.40.
Currently, the gap between the NCBs, the PCBs and the FCBs is still over Tk 2.00 per unit of the greenback in different sectors including letters of credit (LC) payment against import.
The NCBs have re-fixed the rate of greenback at customer's level several times during the last couple of months to minimise the gap among the PCBs and the FCBs. But the gap is still in the market for making LC payment against imports.
"It's not a good indication for a healthy foreign exchange market," a senior fund manger of a commercial bank told the FE Tuesday.
He also said the NCBs have to re-adjust the rates of US dollar in line with the market demand to bring uniformity in the market.
The US dollar was traded at Tk 69.15-71.65 Tuesday, unchanged from the previous level in the inter-bank foreign exchange market.
For opening LCs against imports, the NCBs quoted the dollar at Tk 69.97, while the PCBs and the FCBs sold the greenback at Tk 72.32-72.10 on the day.
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