"They borrow money from the banks and remit the profit abroad," Ahmed said at an interaction meeting with the Economic Reporters' Forum (ERF) on "Floating exchange rate management: How does it work for Bangladesh" at the National Press Club.

"I am concerned about their frequent bank borrowings," he said.

Recently, Finance and Planning Minister M Saifur Rahman also said some mobile phone operators, relatively with small investments, are remitting huge amount of money from the country.

ERF President Zakaria Kazal presided the function, which was also addressed by BB Deputy Governor Allah Malik Kazemi.

Ananya Raihan, executive director of Development Research Network, presented the keynote paper.

The BB governor also said the floating exchange rate, introduced in May 2003, is relevant and favours the policy matrix undertaken by the government.

He said Bangladesh requires comfortable reserve of dollars to pay for its imports of goods and services, besides making payments for the incrementally rising oil import bills.

He said in addition to rising import bills, indiscriminate remittances of money might also create pressure on the foreign exchange market, which at present takes a critical turn.

The central bank may intervene when it is necessary to ensure stability and avoid inflationary pressure, although scope for intervention is limited under a floating exchange rate regime, he said.

"Without developing the real and productive sectors, increased export-import is not enough to contain the rising inflationary trend," Ahmed said.

Deputy Governor Allah Malik Kazemi said floating exchange rate is a standard practice and not a prescription of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Kutubuddin Ahmed, former president of BGMEA, said a stable foreign currency market is essential for economic development of any country.