The Bangladesh Bank has instructed banks to promptly enter data into the Foreign Exchange Transaction Monitoring Dashboard of the central bank about the issuance and acceptance of letters of credit (LC) for imports and exports, respectively, within eight hours.
“Due to incorrect and delayed reporting of import and export data by banks, various problems are arising in Bangladesh Bank’s balance of payments calculation, monetary policy formulation, and its implementation,” says the circular.
Bangladesh’s exports decreased by 4.28 per cent from July to May of FY ’24 compared to the prior year, the central bank stated after resolving disparities in the export data released by the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB).
Exports were initially reported at US $ 51.54 billion for the first 11 months of FY24, according to EPB data. The Bangladesh Bank, however, updated this amount to US $ 40.72 billion, suggesting a US $ 10.82 billion gap.
A circular from the central bank earlier in 2018 instructed banks to regularly provide foreign exchange transaction data to the Foreign Exchange Dashboard, an online platform for tracking and managing foreign exchange transactions.
However, many banks failed to report on time due to a lack of reference time.
According to the central bank’s circular from Tuesday, the several dashboard modules’ mandated templates must contain accurate and comprehensive information.
To oversee reporting on the dashboard, a strong supervision structure should also be established through the appropriate department at the head office of each bank.
