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Taka devalued again, bank rate raised
Bangladesh Bank raised the bank rate and devalued the taka again in a double-pronged strategy to build up the foreign exchange reserve and contain inflation, squeezing credit to the private sector, reports UNB.
The central bank yesterday announced that the bank rate — the floor interest rate on which it lends to the commercial banks — has been refixed at 8 per cent from the current 7.5 per cent with effect from today.
In a separate announcement, it said that the exchange rate of the taka against the US dollar has been adjusted downwards 545 paisa, or one per cent, also ective from today.
The Bangladesh Bank's buying and selling rates for the greenback with authorised dealer banks will now stand at Tk 45.30 and Tk 45.60 against one US dollar respectively, the announcement said.
The Bangladesh currency was last devalued on October 24 with the buying rate of Tk 44.85
and selling rate of Tk 45.15 for one US dollar. The spread between the buying and selling rates were fixed at 30 paisa from the earlier 20 paisa.
The new buying-selling middle rate stands revised at Tk 45.45 from the earlier Tk 45.00.
With the latest downward adjustment, the Bangladesh currency has been devalued for the 11th time during less than one and a half years of the present government.
The new bank and exchange rates were announced at a time when the country's foreign exchange reserve came down to an "uncomfortable" level while the credit to private sector was growing beyond the target.
The inflation, which was almost static at a low level for long, showed an alarming rise with the expansion of the private sector credit, prompting the authorities to go for the dual-strategy.
Commenting on the changes, a senior central bank official
told UNB that the measures had become necessary to squeeze credit growth, contain inflation and build up a comfortable level of forex reserve.
Despite a series of devaluation. the present government is Kit to succeed in building up a ealthy foreign exchange reserve. according to financial analysts.
The government only succeeded in halting a sharp declining trend in the forex reserve. The reserve now stands at around 1.6 billion US dollars, which can meet the country's import requirements for two months only.
"This is not a comfortable reserve position considering the country’s Import requirements." said the Bangladesh Bank official. "The declining trend was stopped, but the reserve is not growing either."
The present reserve is almost half the 3.4 billion US dollars the country was able to build up in 1994. The foreign exchange reserve rose very little recently, but a'payment of 108 million dollars at the Asian Clearing Union (ACU) on November 19 eroded more than tliat
■We have no option but to make payment at the ACU as per the requirement." said another central bank official. "So. the latest devaluation was done to encourage exports and inflow of remittances from expatriate Bangladeshis."
Another Bangladesh Bank official said credit to the private sector has risen by 17 per cent during the September-October period, drawing down the foreign exchange reserve further and fueling inflation.
He said the central bank's target was a 14 per cent growth In the private sector lending. "If
the credit expands at such a rate, the level of foreign exchange would reduce further we want to squeeze credit." he said.
The rate of inflation rose to about 6 per cent and it was showing a rising trend. It was giving a warning, the central bank official said
Asked If the.measures would have any negative Impact on the overall economy, he said it is true that there would be some negative Impact, but these were done considering all aspects of the economy.