Dollar price reached record Tk 70 yesterday in case of letter of credit opening. Dollar was selling at highest Tk 70, up by Tk 0.01 from the previous day.
Dollar price increased too in the inter-bank foreign exchange market. Dollar was sold at Tk 67.20 yesterday, up by Tk 0.15 from the previous day.
The Bangladesh Bank (BB) on Sunday blamed poor liability and asset management by some new generation banks and rise in oil and commodity prices in international market for the exchange rate hike.
But banking sources said only the first generation banks are not responsible for the crisis. Other private commercial banks, foreign commercial banks and nationalised commercial banks also faced dollar crisis and raised greenback prices in case of LC opening, the sources added.
A banking source said the only US$ 2 lakh was traded in the inter-bank market yesterday.
Meanwhile, the dollar crisis is mounting, as the state-owned Janata Bank paid $26 million last week for fuel import bill. Agrani Bank started paying $60 million for fuel import bill this week.
The BB said a huge supply-demand gap of foreign currency has emerged mainly due to opening of a good number of LCs by banks.
The BB said it does not control exchange rate directly under the floating exchange rate regime but monitors the situation cautiously.
The BB said it has directed the commercial banks to improve their liability and asset management. The BB is also monitoring the situation so that the import of essential commodities and fuel cannot be hampered.
A foreign exchange dealer said depreciation of taka will shrink import while export and remittance inflow will be encouraged.
