What Does Wild Fall Of Taka Portend?

Wild fall of Taka causing worries,
Most blame goes to deferred LCs.
Before and after election year,
Gathers abroad illicit capital sheer.

The rapid fall of Taka against major currencies has become headlines recently.Central Bank is selling dollar at Tk 86.70.However, at the exchange market US dollar is selling at TK 93. This rapid depreciation of Taka has been reported to be caused by rising commodity prices,settlement of deferred Letter of Credits, lack of foreign tourists, and rising trade deficit¹.

Government even issued notice banning unnecessary travel of the bureaucrats. But I think bureaucrats’ visit abroad and lack of tourists are poor reasons attributed to wild fall of Taka.The two represent a miniscule part of demand for dollar. The ban came at a time when a minister and her relatives’ visit to another country drew lot of flak in the press. Later, minister claimed that she paid her own expenses and never relied on public money for meeting the expenses. So govt's ban is a diversion to pass the blame to others.

Unease of the govt is compounded by falling remittances, which earlier offset trade deficit and made a current account surplus. In addition, medium and long term debt commitment has also increased, but as percentage of export earnings it is still below 25%(as per my calculation).Along with Occidental multilateral institutions, which are more generous towards Bangladesh, Russian and Chinese credit repayments do not pose serious problem for the moment. Loan repayments of Russian credit line would start from 2023 and some social media put the annual payment somewhere between $565 million. The Ban on Russia and Russian decision to repay the credit in local currency would not cause pressure on US dollar demand. However, such ban could increase dollar demand if US dollar payment could take place in disguise of legitimate international trade via other friendly countries. It is hard to trace such trade payment, so it is better not to embark on such speculation.

So the single reason stands out among others is the deferred LC payment. Most of the LCs opened for importing capital machinery, raw-materials,cooking oil and grains².Rising commodity prices also raised the import expenditure and it is causing the depreciation of Taka. Now here comes another point that we are missing. 2022 is the year before the election scheduled to be held in 2023. Years before and after the election generally witness illicit financial outflow through trade misinvoice. Bout of skirmishes and deteriorating law and order sow panic and lack of trust on domestic system among some quarters. Panic mongers work as sales executive of places where illicit capital finds safe sanctuary.

In an embarrassing report in 2017,Global Financial Integrity (GFI) revealed worrying accounts of illicit financial flow from Bangladesh between 2009 and 2015 with an average flow of $ 8.8 billion. The mismatches between declared value of goods on the invoices and true value of goods were reported to be $5.2 billion in 2008, $6.9 billion in 2010,$8.8 billion in 2011,$7.65 billion in 2012,$9.35 billion in 2013 and $11.92 billion in 2015 ³.As US places sanctions on some personnel of law enforcement agencies for violating human rights, many are under spell of panic. In addition, retribution in politics looms large. Political situation in neighboring countries makes that threat more credible. So exists there a perfect ground for clandestine capital flight through trade anomalies.

However, Canada postponed its residency permit through purchase of flat for two years. But our RMG items are being regularly exported to Canada. And recently one Canadian minister expressed desire to export cooking oil to Bangladesh. So ample means are there to channel out the money.Moreover, Turkey recently opened 2nd-home program like Malaysia. UAE is also running similar campaign.

Two or three quarters later a picture may emerge about the volume of illicit flow. As it happened in the past, this speculation---illegal money transfer through trade data anomalies---may have some roots and may be a reason for depreciation of Taka that is widely ignored.

This depreciation of Taka will work as instrument to curb further import as import is going to be costly. Meanwhile, govt is going to receive another $250 million of ADB’s budget support pretty soon,as reported by the press. Hopefully, Taka will be hovering over some fixed figure for sometimes after that.

Notes And References:

1 “ Dollarer Bazar Osthir,Oshosti(Volatile Dollar Market, Causing Unease)”,Sanaullah Sakib,Daily Prothom Alo(page-1),May 12,2022.

2 “Bank O Khola Bazar E Dollarer Damer Parthokya 8 Taka Chhariyechhey( Difference Between Dollar Exchange Rate At Bank And That Prevails In Market Crosses Taka 8)”,Sanaullah Sakib, Daily Prothom Alo(page-01),May 13,2022.

3 “Bangladesh Lost $50 Billion To Trade Related Illicit Financial Flows In Six Years: Report”,bdnews24.com,December 17, 2021.