UsaNewsOnline.Com Desk, DHAKA,  -US dollar continues to gain strength against Bangladesh Taka (BTD) as the demand of the greenback has shot up due to a rise in the import of capital machineries and essential commodities, including food grains, reports BSS.

“Though the exchange rate was depreciating in the world market in the last few years, the Bangladeshi currency remained stable. In the last few days, Taka has slightly depreciated against US dollar but it will have no major impact on the financial sector,” Bangladesh Bank (BB) Executive Director Subhankar Saha told BSS here today.

Depreciation of Taka against US dollar means the exporters and remittance senders will be benefitted, Subhankar Shah added.

According to the BB data, the inter-bank exchange rate of the US dollar stood at Taka 81.60 on Wednesday, up from Taka 80.90 on November 1 this year and Tk 78.46 on November 1, 2016.

Talking to BSS, Managing Director of Mutual Trust Bank Limited (MTBL) Anis A Khan said settlement of Letter of Credit (LC) of different import items by banks has increased recently.

Due to the settlement of LCs, the demand of US dollar is increasing, he added.

“Export is not increasing like import. So, the demand of US dollar is on the rise. Another reason is that the inflow of remittances through illegal channel has declined,” said Khan.

He expressed the hope that the depreciating trend of Bangladesh currency is temporary.

Managing Director of the Modhumoti Bank Limited M Shafiul Azam said import has increased to meet the demand of capital machineries and food grains. So, demand of US currency is increasing, he added.

“There will have no major impact on the economy for the slight depreciation of Bangladesh currency as our forex reserves and inflow of remittances are in upward trend,” he added.

According to the BB data, inflow of remittances is maintain an increasing trend as expatriate Bangladeshis sent home US$ 1,159.09 million in October which was $856.87 million in September this year.

Bangladeshis abroad have also sent $681.58 million during the first 17 days of the current November.

The foreign exchange reserves of the country were also over $32 billion up to November 15, which is well enough to meet nine-month import demand.