Dollar crisis may decrease in January: BB

The monitoring of imports has been intensified due to the dollar crunch in the country which has led to dip in opening letters of credit (LC).

Yet the ongoing dollar crisis will remain for another two months.

These were said at a discussion of the senior officials of Bangladesh Bank on Sunday.

However, the dollar crisis will decrease from January next year, the senior officials told the meeting.

Central bank governor Abdur Rouf Talukder held the meeting with the bank’s deputy governors and executive directors about the overall economic situation in the country.

A large part of the meeting was about dollar crunch and forex reserve situation.

When the discussion on inflation and interest rate was raised, the deputy governors halted the discussion over the matter.

The governor is set to meet with the bank inspection officials today, Monday.

Speaking to Prothom Alo about this, Bangladesh Bank spokesperson Abul Kalam Azad said, “The meeting discussed the overall banking and financial sectors of the country. The governor has given some directives.”

Abdur Rouf Talukder joined as the governor of Bangladesh Bank on 12 July this year. He asked the executive directors about the situation of the central bank since his joining. He also asked for their opinions on the current financial condition in the country.

The executive directors talked at the discussion sporadically and uncritically. Most of them also spoke extending their blanket support to the steps the central bank has taken.

When an executive director said the interest rate has become lesser than the inflation rate, one of the deputy directors cut him short.

Another banker said in many countries you have to bear the cost for keeping money in banks. There are many places for investment including the share market. A bank cannot be a medium of interest income.

Regarding the dollar situation, it was said any LC’s of above $3 million are being inspected. That’s why the number of opening LC’s has decreased. as a result, the crisis will be over in the coming days.

The dollar crisis has started in the country from March this year. Bangladesh Bank’s policy of holding the value of taka against dollar for long aggravated the situation. Later, the central bank was forced to shun the responsibility of fixing the dollar price on the commercial banks.

Nobody spoke about the matter of discussion with the central bank. Meanwhile, though one of the prime responsibilities of the central bank is to control the inflation rate, no discussion was held on the matter.