Taka slipped to a record low against US dollar yesterday, thanks to robust demand for the greenback for payment against import bills and corporate needs, dealers said.

Dealers had to pay as much as Tk 63.47 for a dollar in the inter-bank foreign currency market against Tk 63.43 on the previous day.

Nationalised commercial banks (NCBs), the holders of the government's huge foreign currency, yesterday crossed its Tk 61 per dollar level and settled a few deals as high as Tk 63.25 per dollar with foreign banks, a dealer said.

The taka was traded yesterday at 61.00/63.47 per US dollar against 61.00/63.43 on Monday.

The dollar on Wednesday crossed 63 level hitting all time high at 63.20 on an 'uneven demand' from importers while some banks faced lower remittance inflow.

The demand for the US dollar remains strong for a long time and the price sharply rose further as some corporate importers paid a substantial amount of dollar against their import of capital machinery and edible oil.

The country's foreign currency reserves fell to $3.04 billion at the end of January from $3.22 billion in December last year (2004). The country's forex reserves stood at $2.59 billion in January, 2004,

"The fall was due to settlement of accounts with Asian Clearing Union (ACU). Bangladesh usually pays about $200 million after every two months.

In recent days, the foreign currency earnings of some commercial banks particularly private ones have reduced significantly. Call money rates rose slightly and ranged between 4.75 percent and 12.5 percent against 4.0 percent and 12.0 percent on Monday.