Now dollar caps come on moneychangers as they are barred from keeping in hand over $50,000 for daylong dealings but $25,000 at the close of day’s operations, amid foreign-exchange crunch.
Bangladesh Bank (BB) fixed the limit to stock currencies for the moneychangers, an official announcement said Thursday, in the wake of government efforts to tighten dollar uses and beef up the availability of the same.
In terms of the local currency, the money-changing companies can keep a maximum of Tk 5.0 million in hand during a day’s dealings, according to a circular issued on the day by the Foreign Exchange Policy Department of the central bank.
“Bangladeshi taka beyond this limit shall have to be deposited into moneychangers’ current deposit account,” says the circular on the restrictions.
It states that the maximum stock of cash foreign currency must not exceed US$ 25,000 or equivalent at the close of each business day.
“Cash foreign currency beyond this limit shall either be encashed with any AD (authorised dealer) or deposited into the foreign-currency account in its respective bank. The balance of that account must not exceed US$50,000 or equivalent at any point in time,” it mentions.
When contacted, a BB official said the instructions would help prevent illicit hundi operations as it was not mentioned earlier how much cash taka moneychangers could hold.
He notes that there is an allegation that some moneychangers might have been involved in hundi activities largely blamed for the falling trend in remittance inflow.
“Preserving large volume of currencies in the vaults of money-changing outlets means something fishy as their business volume is small,” he adds.
The central bank sealed off several unlicensed money- changing houses in late September for their suspected involvement in dollar manipulations. Before that, some 42 of such companies were served-showcase notice over various irregularities in dollar trading.
There is an allegation raised by many economists that moneychangers often indulge in illicit cross-border financial transactions like the hundi by buying dollars at much higher rates than that of the banks. As a result, Bangladeshi expatriates working abroad prefer informal channel, which creates concern.
Meanwhile, the BB in another circular asked scheduled banks and financial institutions to refrain from any activity associated with virtual assets and currencies, including cryptocurrency.
It says the central bank has observed that some foreigners using accounts of some scheduled banks and mobile financial service (MFS) are conducting trading in virtual assets and currencies.
“All scheduled banks, financial institutions and other stakeholders involved in foreign-currency exchange are directed to refrain from assisting such activity here,” the BB order adds.
