"There is no dollar crisis in the country. We have adequate reserves," he told newsmen after a meeting with the state minister for civil aviation in Dhaka.

Some banks, which are inefficient, are facing problems as they have recklessly opened a huge number of letters of credit on speculation, he said.

The finance minister made the comment after a section of importers alleged that banks are not opening letters of credit (L/Cs) for importing capital machinery, raw materials and spare parts due to dollar crisis in banks.

According to sources, some of the small private commercial banks (PCBs) have been unable to settle their L/C payments for the last couple of months.

However, a highly placed source at the Bangladesh Bank said the central bank has injected around US$ 500 million from January to the first week of July.

"We have pumped about $130 million in June alone and $25 million in the first four working days of this month," he explained commenting on the banks' allegation about the present crisis of dollar.

The BB is yet to intervene, he said adding banks have opened a significant number of L/Cs for importing luxury items. The BB will not inject foreign currency in banks any more if they continue to open L/Cs without prudence.

The present situation is a learning process for banks and they should learn how to manage the market, the BB official said hoping that the situation will improve shortly.

The central bank is cautiously monitoring the market so that the difference in transactions does not go beyond Tk 1.

According to BB sources, foreign currency reserves as of July 4 were a bit less than three billion, US$2999.24 million. The foreign exchange reserves have been under pressure following unusual rise in L/C opening.

L/Cs worth more than one billion dollar are being opened every month.The value of opening of L/Cs during July-May period of the just concluded 2004-05 fiscal year amounted to $13.01 billion, up by 17.22 percent over the corresponding period in FY2003-04.

Greenback price in the inter-bank foreign exchange market was Tk 63.79 per unit while the rate for L/C was Tk 65.7 yesterday.