Taka Crosses Tk124 as Bangladesh Bank Sells Another $100 Million to Defend the Currency

The taka has pushed past Tk124 to the US dollar in the interbank market this week, a level it has not touched since well before the Awami League government fell in 2024, and Bangladesh Bank has responded by selling dollars from its reserves for the second time in eight days. On November 4, the central bank sold another $100 million through an auction, after an earlier $122 million sale the previous week that the market treated as unusual after a long stretch without such interventions.

• The interbank dollar rate hit Tk124.35 on November 3 and 4, up from Tk123.00 at the start of October and Tk123.99 on the last working day of October.
• Bangladesh Bank sold $100 million on November 4 and $122 million the week before, its first dollar sales in a long while, after holding reserves steady for roughly a year and a half.
• Gross reserves have slipped to $36.43 billion from a peak of $37.41 billion on September 1, though they remain far above the $25.92 billion low hit under the previous government.
• An earlier planned $100 million auction was cancelled at the last moment the previous Tuesday, even after several banks had already placed bids.

Why the taka is sliding now

The immediate pressure is coming from higher import costs, particularly for fuel, as tensions in the Middle East have kept energy prices elevated on world markets. Banks needing dollars to settle fuel and other import bills have been bidding the local currency down, pushing the interbank rate from Tk123 at the start of October to above Tk124 within the span of a month. For about a year and a half after the Awami League's fall in August 2024, the interbank rate held in a narrow band between Tk121 and Tk122.30, a period of unusual stability. That calm has broken since March 2026, with the rate drifting steadily higher.

Date	Interbank rate (Tk per USD)
October 1, 2026	123.00
October 31, 2026	123.99
November 3, 2026	124.30
November 4, 2026	124.35

A reversal of policy, in small doses

The dollar sales mark a notable shift. Bangladesh Bank Governor Ahsan H Mansur, who took office in August 2024, said at the time that the central bank would not sell dollars to defend the taka, a stance his successor kept in place. For roughly a year and a half, the central bank largely stayed out of the market, letting reserves recover from the depths of the previous administration's three years of heavy dollar selling, which had taken reserves from more than $48 billion in August 2021 down to $25.92 billion. Reserves climbed back above $37 billion by late June this year and peaked at $37.41 billion on September 1, before beginning their current slide to $36.43 billion.

Against that backdrop, two dollar sales within eight days represent a real change in approach, even if the amounts involved, $100 million and $122 million, are modest next to the billions the previous government once sold in a single intervention. The auction mechanics also look deliberate rather than routine: banks had to bid for at least $500,000 each in the November 4 auction, and a separate $100 million auction planned for the previous Tuesday was called off at the last moment despite banks having already submitted bids, suggesting the central bank is calibrating these sales carefully rather than committing to an open-ended defence of the currency.

Why officials expect the pressure to ease

A central bank official, speaking on condition of anonymity, pointed to two political developments abroad as reasons for cautious optimism. The US midterm elections handed Democrats full control of both chambers of Congress, and Israel's general election cost Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's religious-nationalist coalition its parliamentary majority. The official argued both outcomes raise the odds of an easing in Middle East tensions, and noted that oil and dollar prices both fell on world markets on November 4, which the central bank hopes will feed through to calmer conditions in Bangladesh's own import bill and foreign exchange market in the weeks ahead.

An unnamed Bangladesh Bank official said hopes have grown for an easing of the global conflict, and expects conditions in Bangladesh to improve as oil and dollar prices soften on world markets.

What it means for you

A weaker taka raises the local cost of anything priced in dollars, which flows through fastest into fuel prices, imported food and raw materials, and ultimately into the prices importers and retailers charge. If you regularly convert foreign currency, whether from remittances, overseas income or savings held abroad, the current rate of over Tk124 is meaningfully better for you than the Tk121 to Tk122 that held for most of the past year and a half, so this may be a reasonable window to convert funds you intend to bring into the country. You can check today's rate and estimate conversions with the site's currency converter. For anyone planning overseas tuition payments, medical travel or import costs, it is worth building in a buffer above Tk124 given the upward drift of the past month.

For savers deciding where to park taka, a weakening currency and the import-driven inflation it can bring are part of the calculation behind where fixed deposit rates are headed next. You can compare current offers across banks using the FDR rate comparison tool.

What to watch next

The key signal to watch is whether Bangladesh Bank's dollar sales continue at this modest, calibrated pace or escalate into a sustained defence of a particular level, which would mark a more decisive break from the governor's original no-intervention stance. Reserves at $36.43 billion still give the central bank considerable room to maneuver before approaching levels that would cause real concern, but a third intervention in quick succession would signal that officials see the current pressure as more than a brief blip.