A delegation of the Association of Bankers Bangladesh Limited (ABB) led by its Chairman, Selim R. F. Hussain, has made a courtesy call on the Chairman of the National Board of Revenue and Senior Secretary, Internal Resources Division Abu Hena Md. Rahmatul Muneem. Brac Bank leads CMSME Cluster Financing Workshop in Laxmipur to fuel growth ABB leaders congratulated him on his reappointment. ABB Secretary General and Managing Director & CEO of Prime Bank PLC Hassan O. Rashid attended the meeting on Tuesday. BAT Bangladesh secures 'Top Employer' award for fifth time ABB leaders also discussed the tax regime in the banking sector with him and shared ABB's recommendations. 13 exhibitors from Bangladesh participate in Texworld Apparel Sourcing in France

Bangladesh Bank decided not to bring major changes in the US dollar exchange rate before the upcoming national election. The central bank’s Governor Abdur Rouf Talukder informed of this decision at a meeting with managing directors and CEOs of banks recently. At that meeting, the governor said that Bangladesh Bank will not make any policy changes regarding the dollar market or the foreign currency market before the national election. Despite this decision, the dollar rate has been raised by Tk .50 or 50 paisa in all cases. The price of the dollar has increased to Tk 110 in case of export and expatriates’ income, and to Tk 110.50 in case of import. Read: Selling dollars at higher prices: What is Bangladesh Bank’s action against treasury heads of 10 banks?The dollar rate was hiked again yesterday, which is effective from today. The dollar crisis in the country has become evident since March 2023, following the downturn caused by the Russia-Ukraine war. To deal with this crisis, Bangladesh Bank fixed the dollar price at the beginning. This worsened the crisis. Later, last September, Bangladesh Bank withdrew from determining the price of the dollar. Read: Bangladesh Bank seeks explanations from 13 banks for selling dollars at higher prices This responsibility has been given to the Association of Bankers, Bangladesh (ABB) and Bangladesh Foreign Exchange Dealers’ Association (BAFEDA). Since then the two organizations have been jointly setting the dollar price for export, remittance earnings, and payment of import liabilities. Read more: Dollar goes off kerb market after central bank-led raids of money exchanges

The defaulted loans in the banking sector climbed by about Tk10, 954 crore to Tk1,31, 621 crore in the January-March quarter. According to Bangladesh Bank (BB) the defaulted loans increased by 9 percent from three months ago and 16 percent from a year earlier. Despite different initiative of the central bank, defaulted loans is on a rising trend, which is becoming challenging and a headache, the BB Governor said recently in a conference Association of Bankers Bangladesh (ABB).   In comparison, the default loan figure stood at Tk1,20,656 crore in December 2022. Also Read: Market-based interest rate, unified exchange rate from July: Bangladesh Bank The defaulted loan volume surged in post Covid-19 period while the businesses abstained from repaying loan installments citing poor business. During the pandemic the central bank announced a moratorium on regular repayment of loans that helped a large number of borrowers from becoming defaulters. After withdrawal of the moratorium facility, the defaulted loan volume increased by over Tk 1.20 lakh crore in December last year. Former governor of BB Dr. Salehuddin Ahmed told UNB that a group of businesses is becoming defaulters willfully and the central bank has to be strict with such people. Also Read: IMF-Bangladesh Bank meeting prioritizes unified exchange rate and competitive lending rate He said for lack of good governance, some organized groups have taken more money as loans than their ability, which is a reason behind surge in defaulted loans.

Exporters will get Tk102 against a US dollar to repatriate their export income in Bangladesh. The Association of Bankers Bangladesh (ABB) and Bangladesh Foreign Exchange Dealers’ Association (BAFEDA) announced the new dollar rate for exporters effective Monday. This is up by one taka from the earlier rate of Tk. 101 per dollar. Read more: FBCCI seeks dollars from reserves to import commodities for Ramadan The leaders of ABB and BAFEDA held a meeting on Sunday night to determine the price of the dollar. It decided to increase the rate for export income, but the price of the dollar was kept unchanged in the case of payment of expatriate income and import duties. As per the new decision, exporters will get Tk1.0 more against each dollar. And in terms of expatriate income, the dollar price has been kept unchanged at Tk 107. Apart from this, the value of the dollar will be Tk 0.50 more than the average of expatriate and export earnings in terms of payment of import duties. Read more: Remittance: Bangladesh Bank tells banks to provide Tk 107 per dollar At present, the price of the dollar in expatriate income is Tk107 and that for export income is Tk102. As a result, the average of expatriate and export income is Tk104.5. Adding Tk0.50 to this average will be Tk105 per dollar of import bills. The greenback has been in short supply since March last year following Russia-Ukraine war that jolted global economy. Read More: No dollar crisis in banks from next month: Salman F Rahman

Bangladesh Bank has asked banks to provide Tk 107 per US dollar inward remittance. A remitter will now get Tk 107 per dollar, even if they send remittance directly through banks. Currently, remitters are getting Tk 99.5 per dollar through the banking channel. Remittance flow through banks fell drastically in September and October. Read more: Bangladesh Bank will go slow in calculating reserves following IMF formula Apart from this, the banks will not charge any fee for remittance collection from now on. At the same time, in the current reality of foreign exchange reserves, banks have to open LCs with dollar resources from their own sources, Bangladesh Bank said to the commercial banks These instructions were given on Monday (October 31, 2022) in a meeting between the central bank and the Association of Bankers, Bangladesh (ABB), an association of banks' chief executives, and the Bangladesh Foreign Exchange Dealers’ Association (BAFEDA) Deputy Governor Ahmed Jamal and Kazi Sayedur Rahman were present at the meeting. Read more: Bangladesh Bank asks banks to stop ACU transactions with Sri Lanka ABB Chairman and BRAC Bank Managing Director (MD) Salim RF Hossain, on behalf of the banks, BAFEDA Chairman and Sonali Bank MD Afzal Karim, Mutual Trust Bank MD Syed Mahbubur Rahman, City Bank MD Masrur Arefin and others were present. Besides, the central bank has asked to increase the number of exchange houses outside the country to encourage remittance collection directly through banks by reducing the dependence on foreign exchange houses. In this case, the central bank will provide the necessary assistance. Banks have committed to implementing these decisions. Read More: How to safely send remittance to Bangladesh?

Expatriate Bangladeshis will get maximum Tk 107.5 per US dollar instead of Tk 108, for remittance from October 1, 2022. Association of Bankers, Bangladesh (ABB) and Bangladesh Foreign Exchange Dealers’ Association (BAFEDA) have set this rate for remittance next month – to stabilize the forex market. Economists are saying controlling the exchange rate would have negative impact on the current inward remittance flow. Read: Bangladesh received over $1 billion remittance in Sep 1-15 Economist and Chairman of PRI, Ahsan H Mansur, told UNB that this is not the right decision to attract more remittance when the kerb market rate is over Tk 114 per dollar. It may encourage sending money through illegal channels, which does not help in resolving the forex crisis, he said. Professor Mustafizur Rahman, distinguished fellow of CPD, also said that controlling exchange rate is not helpful when market demand for forex is expanding. Read:Uniform rate: Tk 108/dollar max for remittance, Tk 99/dollar for export income from tomorrow He said several rates for US dollar will create discrepancies and discourage remittance flow.  The illegal sector will be encouraged while exchange rate difference between banks and kerb market will be widened, Prof. Mustafizur said. According to the decision of the meeting held on Monday, remitters will get maximum Tk 107.5 per US dollar. Earlier on September 11, ABB and BAFEDA fixed the maximum price of a dollar at Tk 108 for remittance. Read Explainer: What it means to let taka float The dollar rate of export income monetization will remain at Tk 99 per dollar as before. In the case of payment of import liabilities and inter-bank transactions, price of dollar will be Tk 1 higher than the average price of a dollar bought from expatriate and export earnings. At the end of the meeting, BAFEDA Chairman Afzal Karim told the reporters, “There was supposed to be a price review from time to time to keep the dollar market normal.” “In continuation of this, we have decided the new price. The new price will be effective from October 1,” he said. Read How to safely send remittance to Bangladesh?

Association of Bankers, Bangladesh (ABB) and Bangladesh Foreign Exchange Dealers’ Association (BAFEADA) will meet again tomorrow (September 11, 2022) to determine the uniform exchange rate of US dollar. They (ABB and BAFEDA) will then formally inform Bangladesh Bank of their decision on the execution of a single rate of the dollar. On Thursday, Bangladesh Bank had discussions with banks to determine what to do in the dollar market. Central bank’s Deputy Governor Ahmed Jamal chaired this joint meeting with ABB and BAFEDA leaders. At the end of the meeting, Governor Abdur Rouf Talukdar joined. But they could not finalise the decision on a single rate for dollar. Read: BB revises cluster credit guidelines to boost small enterprises Both organisations sought time to monitor the dollar market and understand the import-export situation before setting the unified rate of the dollar. There has been volatility in the dollar market for several months. The central bank is struggling to keep the exchange rate of the dollar stable.  ABB Chairman and Managing Director of BRAC Bank Salim R. F. Hussain told UNB that the dollar market will stabilize in the next two months due to decrease in the transaction deficit in foreign trade. Read The dancing dollar and the Bangladesh Bank