Inflation will drop to 7pc by August: BB Governor

Bangladesh Bank (BB) Governor Dr. Ahsan H. Mansur on Thursday conveyed a categorical message to the aggregators in particular about not getting involved in foreign exchange hoarding to make unusual gains taking the opportunity of market-driven exchange rate regime. "Don't stockpile dollars. How many days you can? Not more than five working days and I can bet on that. So don't do that," the central bank governor told a roundtable hosted by Bengali daily newspaper Bonik Barta at a city hotel.

Indicating the aggregators, the Governor said the exchange rate here should be determined by Bangladesh, not someone else from somewhere. Calling upon the remitters, the leader of the banking regulator said Bangladeshi citizens working abroad should not hoard remittance riding on any form of speculation over rate-rise as it will not bring any return for them from the market which is stable and in good shape. "So, don't wait. Send money whenever you want to your family back home," he said.

The BB Governor said the exporters should be very careful in taking exchange rate risks through delaying bringing back their receipts, which will be costly for them.

"So, calculate properly in taking exchange rate risks," the BB boss said. Though the forex market is stable even in the market-centric regime, he said, it would be very difficult to hold the stability if the inflation differentials with the country's trading peers is not plummeted. To achieve such exchange rate stability, he said, the country needs to bring down inflation to 3-4 per cent. For this, we need to continue policy consistency. That's what we're doing now. Hopefully, the inflation will come down to 7.0 percent by August next and 5.0 percent by early next year.

Dr. Ahsan H. Mansur said the main objective of the central bank administration is to liberalize the market and bring back confidence on the market. To achieve the goal, the regulator has been working. Bonik Barta editor Dewan Hanif Mahmud moderated the roundtable where chairman of Agrani Bank Syed Abu Naser Bukhtear Ahmed, Managing Director and CEO Mutual Trust Bank Syed Mahbubur Rahman, Center for Policy Dialogue (CPD) Executive Director Dr.  Fahmida Khatun, Chairman of Policy Exchange of Bangladesh Dr. M Masrur Reaz, Chairman of GPH Group Mohammed Jahangir Alam and Country Manager of Mastercard Syed Mohammad Kamal also spoke on the occasion.