In the foreign exchange market yesterday the price of a dollar rose to Tk 66.55, up by Tk 0.10 from Monday's.

In case of import bills, the nationalised commercial banks yesterday sold dollar at the rate of Tk 67.25, up by Tk 0.25 from Monday's, while the private banks' rate stood at Tk 68.90 or Tk 0.10 higher than Monday's.

The demand for the greenback has remained high from the beginning of the current fiscal year, as the forex reserve has come under considerable pressure. The reserve depleted by 8.4 percent in August, 10.2 percent in September and 14.57 percent in October from the corresponding months of FY2004-05.

The forex reserve stood at $2.41 billion at end-November 2005, declining by 23.48 percent from that of November 2004. The amount was good to cover the imports of only 2.11 months.

The major factor contributing to this slide in forex reserve is an increasing export-import imbalance, with a higher outflow. Import recorded an 11.26 percent rise over July to October in FY06, while export posted a 12.73 percent growth over July to November.