Dollar jumps to record Tk 111 in open market

The volatile kerb market for foreign currencies has seen a new record with the US dollar peaking to Tk 111, a nearly Tk 6 jump from a day earlier, the biggest single-day jump in the history of Bangladesh.

The banks were selling the dollar at Tk 102.5 on Tuesday, which was Tk 0.5 higher than on Monday.

As exports and falling remittances have not been enough to fill in the gap created by the imports amid global price rises triggered by the Russia-Ukraine war, the taka has been losing its value against the dollar.

Some exchangers even said that they had to turn away customers because of the shortfall.

Usually, as soon as Hajj ends, the taka-dollar exchange rate eases up as pilgrims returning from Saudi Arabia offload the greenbacks in their possession, mostly in the kerb market to get a better price.

Not this time though.

Amin Uddin Bhuiyan, director of Eastern Money Exchange, said the price of the dollar has been changing by the hour since Tuesday morning.

According to him, the dollar price rose to Tk 108.5 by 11 am, and by 2:30 pm, it stood at Tk 111, a new record.

The price slightly fell after that, and eventually the market closed at Tk 110 in the evening.

“It has been a bizarre day. The crisis of dollars is paramount,” Amin said.