BANGLADESH-INDIA Indian rupee exchanges between Dhaka and Delhi

Today a program has been launched to reduce dependence on the dollar in commercial transactions between companies from both countries. Bangladesh hopes the move will also help ease pressure on its foreign reserves, which has led to a sharp devaluation of the local currency in the past 18 months.

Dhaka ( / Agencies) – Bangladesh and India today began to regulate their bilateral trade in Indian rupees, opening transactions in local currency to ease the pressure of dependence on the dollar.

At an event in Dhaka, the lenders involved handed over two export letters of credit from two Bangladeshi companies – Tamim Agro and Shahjahan Mia – for a total of 28 million Indian rupees and two import letters of credit of 12 million Indian rupees from the Indian companies Nita Company and Abdul Matlub Ahmad.

The Bank of Bangladesh and the High Commission of India in Dhaka organized the launch program for the initiative. At present, trade between Bangladesh and India amounts to about 16 billion dollars. The measure is intended to give a breather to local companies, which will be able to open current accounts in rupees instead of dollars.

The move is also expected to ease pressure on Bangladesh’s foreign exchange reserves, which have been declining since the accumulation of payments abroad continued to outpace earnings from exports and remittances. The Taka – the Bangladeshi currency – has lost value significantly in the last eighteen months.