Bangladesh and India may remove the dollar as a currency for transactions between them. In addition to reducing trade costs, this decision is being taken to reduce losses due to rupee-dollar and taka-dollar differences, according to latest news reports.
Reports said that this discussion took place on the sidelines of the meeting of the G20 finance ministers and central bank governors held on February 24-25 in Bangalore, the southern city of India.
The reports also mention that every year Bangladeshi nationals spend about $2 billion on medical, tourism and education in India. Indian citizens travel to Bangladesh.
During all this, the dollar is used as the exchange for the transactions of the citizens of the two countries. Citizens of both countries have to suffer due to this. So there will be a dual currency exchange card for the convenience of citizens of both countries. The card can be loaded with Indian Rupees or Bangladeshi Taka before travel.
Besides, India is one of the top three countries that Bangladesh imports from. Therefore, if such a process is implemented, there will be a positive impact on the trade between the two countries.
The reports also suggest that the proposal to launch the bilateral exchange of taka-rupee and dual currency card was raised recently in the meeting of the National Economic Council of Bangladesh under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
In that meeting, Bangladesh Bank Governor Abdur Rauf Talukder said, as a result of this step, India will no longer have to remit large amounts of payments. It will reduce the pressure of foreign currency of the country.
The Governor of Bangladesh Bank said that the pressure on the reserves has reduced a lot. The import bill has come down due to the measures taken. Now it is possible to meet the import bill with export earnings and inflow of remittances.’
However, this process will be piloted in public sector banks of both countries before being made public.
