The Bangladesh Bank (BB) has directed all commercial banks to relax the opening margin rate for the settlement of letter of credit (LC) against eight food items at the minimum level in a move to keep the prices tolerable and ensure adequate supply during the month of Ramadan.
The food items are edible oil, sugar, chickpeas, pulses, beans, onions, dates, and spices.
In a circular issued on Sunday (11 December), the central bank asked all banks to keep the opening margin rate at the minimum level based on banker-customer relations, effective immediately.
The central bank fixed the opening margin rate for the settlement of letters of credit at 75% in a bid to limit imports to save the depleting reserves of foreign currency.
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