Exchange Rate Now!

It has been more than 35 years since Bangladesh has a currency of their own, yet throughout these 35 years, it is noted that the Bangladeshi Taka (BDT) has been on a decline against major currencies around the world, including the US Dollar.

Currently, 1 US Dollar trades at about 68.88 Bangladeshi Taka, or 1 Bangladeshi Taka compared against 0.0145 USD. While this rate is still higher compared to its neighbour Pakistan, there is little indication if the Bangladeshi may appreciate against the US Dollar in the long term.

The value of the Bangladeshi Taka is often affected by the remittance of US Dollar by Bangladeshis working overseas. Many Bangladeshis work overseas as maids, construction workers and other similar low paying jobs, but earning salary still  much higher than if they would had earned in Bangladesh. While there could be hardship, most Bangladeshi are able to endure the time away from home as they will usually head home once they have saved up enough after about 5-10 years, enough for them to setup their own businesses or if they are lucky enough, to retire. In the meantime, the money they remit back (in US Dollar or other currencies) means that there is a stable demand for the Bangladeshi Taka, preventing the value of the Bangladeshi from sliding.

One key trend that can potentially reverse the depreciation of the Bangladeshi Taka is to increase the remittance amount by their overseas citizens. This can be increased not by having more citizens working overseas, but by having citizens working overseas remitting more money home. This will require (more…)

The Hong Kong Dollar (HKD, HK$, “Hongkers” – informal name) is pegged to the US Dollar (USD). The initial conversion rate was 5.085 Hong Kong Dollar to 1 US Dollar in 1972 but the H.K. Dollar has since been floated to a current band of exchange rate between 7.75 HKD/ 7.85 HKD = 1 US Dollar. This represents a maximum variance of 1.29%.

To the average tourist between United States and Hong Kong – there is hardly any need to forecast the trend of US Dollar/Hong Kong Dollar exchange rate. You can simply convert either of the currency just the day before you travel, and rest assured that it will not matter materially if you had converted your currency 6 months ago or even earlier. This bode well for Hong Kongers studying in the United States, as a stable peg of Hong Kong Dollar means that it is easy to forecast and budget your study expenses. Similarly, Hong Kongers working in the United States will not be exposed to the currency fluctuations that can relatively reduce your pay against a basket of foreign currencies.

There is no fear that speculative trading will destabilise the trading band of the Hong Kong Dollar compared to the US Dollar (more…)