Dollar price has been reduced in the curb or open market as the government and Bangladesh Bank have taken strict initiatives to overcome dollar crisis.
Money exchange houses sold a US dollar at the rate of Tk 107 to Tk 108 on Thursday.
On Tuesday, the green back sold at the rate of Tk 114-Tk 115 in different money exchange houses.
Although in the interbank forex market, a dollar is now sold at Tk 95, the banks actually sold at the rate of Tk 104 to Tk 106 for the last two weeks.
On Wednesday, to overcome the ongoing dollar crisis, the Central Bank ordered for sale of the excess dollars kept in people's hands by September 30. Otherwise, legal action will be taken, according to a Central Bank notification.
According to the current law, a Bangladeshi national can bring $10,000 or any equivalent currency when returning from abroad. They can save these dollars as cash, or foreign currency bank deposits.
It said if someone has more than $10,000, he or she is requested to sell the extra dollars to the bank or to the licensed money exchange houses by September 30. Otherwise, legal action will be taken against people found with having extra dollars.
Talking to Bangladesh Post, owners of money exchange houses said the supply of dollars in the open market has increased in the last few days. That is why the price is declining again, they mentioned.
Recently, the country has faced a dollar crisis as the country's import demand has picked up.
To meet the market demand, the Central Bank is selling dollars from the reserves in continuation of the last fiscal year 2021-22, which put pressure on the reserves.
Reserves have now fallen below $40 billion.
Meanwhile, dollar market is volatile. Dollar price suddenly increased to Tk 118-119 in the open market. Many exchange houses got involved in manipulation.
Earlier, Bangladesh Bank raided various money changers in the capital to control dollar price in the open market.
The central bank conducted this inspection along with members of the National Security Intelligence Agency (NSI).
Besides, the Dhaka Metropolitan Detective Police conducted an operation against illegal hoarders of dollars.
On the orders of Bangladesh Bank, six bank treasury chiefs were removed for involvement in dollar price manipulation.
Managing Directors (MDs) of the banks were also asked to show cause.
Despite this, the market is not normalizing.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh Bank fixed the difference by one taka between the buying and selling rate of dollars for banks and money exchange houses.
In other words, banks can sell dollars to customers at a maximum price of one taka higher than the price at which they buy dollars.
Md Serajul Islam, Bangladesh Bank executive director and spokesman, said, some steps have been taken by the central bank to reduce imports and the government has also taken some steps.
"As a result, imports are significantly reduced now. The money market will also return to normal soon,” he mentioned.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh Bank (BB) directly sold dollars from reserves to the commercial banks to stabilise the dollar market.
The BB sold more than $2.04 billion directly to commercial banks from the foreign exchange reserves to stabilize the forex market till August in the 2022-23 fiscal year.
Bangladesh Bank sold a record $7.62 billion directly to commercial banks in the last fiscal year.
