Bangladesh Bank (BB) is set to launch a single exchange rate for the US dollar to ensure transparency in interbank dollar trading.

The initiative follows a year of foreign exchange management challenges, with multiple local currency depreciations and businesses struggling to open letters of credit (LCs) due to dollar shortages. Importers frequently paid above the central bank’s fixed rate, yet essential goods’ prices remained unaffected.

Seven months after introducing a crawling peg system, BB now plans to finalize a reference rate system, allowing banks a Tk 1.0 maximum difference between buying and selling rates. A formal circular on this policy will be issued soon, aiming to stabilize the volatile dollar market.

Non-compliance by banks will result in fines of at least Tk 10 lakh or 5% of LC transaction values, according to a private bank MD present at a recent meeting with Governor Dr. Ahsan H Mansur.

BB has mandated that banks publish exchange rates and adhere strictly to them, and all transaction details must be submitted to the central bank.