The taka has seen a slight rise against the US dollar.
On Sunday, a dollar was traded for Tk 74.40 to 74.53, whereas on August 9 it was Tk 74.90 to 74.95.
The central bank governor said the strengthening was down to an increase of remittance inflow and a fall in import spendings ahead of Eid.
Atiur Rahman told the news agency on Sunday he hoped taka would appreciate further with growing remittance flow, export earnings and forex reserve on the horizon.
Bangladesh Bank foreign exchange records show taka steadily plummeting over the last year. On July 31 last year, the taka-dollar exchange rate was 69.41, which came down to 70.78 at the end of October. On Jan 31 this year dollar were traded for 71.15, which depreciated to 74.84 at the
end of July.
August 9 was the first day in 13 months when the taka appreciated.
Atiur Rahman dismissed that the worsening US economy had anything to do with taka's progress. 'Export spendings have been falling since June, while remittances have been
growing. Import earnings are also steadily on the rise. That's why taka is getting stronger,' he explained.
'Hopefully the trend will continue,' he added.
The forex reserve was in the vicinity of a healthy $11 billion, Atiur said. He also hinted at some possible boosts to the reserve.
'Several big FDIs (foreign direct investments) will come in soon. We had discussions with a company even (Sunday), though I won't mention any names right now,' he said.
Zayeed Bakht, senior research director with the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies, said that the country had poor aid flow. 'Much of the aid is stuck in the pipeline. If they would be released, our reserves would be in a much more comfortable situation,'
he said.
Remittance appears to be on the rise since the beginning of the current fiscal year. In July, $1.03 billion worth of remittance came into the country, 20 per cent higher than the previous July.
Letters of credit are on the fall, however, with a 7.7 per cent fall in new LCs in July.
The export earnings grew 29 per cent in July, while the average growth for 2010-11 fiscal was 41.47 per cent.
Net foreign aid in the last fiscal was $1.04 billion while in 2009-10 it was $1.47 billion.
Source : New Age
