Bangladesh Bank lifts travellers’ dollar cap to $3,000

Bangladesh Bank has raised the ceiling on the foreign currency that licensed money changers may sell to outbound travellers in a single transaction from $2,000 to $3,000, a move designed to ease access to hard currency for Bangladeshis heading overseas.

In a circular issued on Thursday (October 8), the central bank authorised licensed money changers to sell up to $3,000 in foreign currency notes and coins to each Bangladeshi citizen travelling abroad, subject to the applicable annual personal travel quota. The directive, which supersedes the previous threshold, is intended to facilitate access to foreign exchange for those with imminent overseas commitments. Notably, the relaxation applies strictly within the existing quota framework, so the annual entitlement itself remains unchanged.

Furthermore, the circular stipulates that any unused portion of a traveller’s annual quota may be sold in other freely convertible and usable currencies, depending on the applicable entitlement and the availability of the currency concerned. In other words, travellers are no longer confined to a single denomination when drawing down their remaining allowance, provided that the money changer holds sufficient stock. Nevertheless, the availability of such currencies will ultimately determine how readily this provision can be exercised in practice.

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Consequently, eligible travellers can now obtain an additional $1,000 in cash in one transaction compared with the previous limit, affording them considerably greater flexibility when arranging trips abroad. Moreover, the higher per-transaction ceiling may spare passengers the inconvenience of making repeated visits to money changers to assemble the funds they require. Taken together, the measures signal a conscious effort by the central bank to streamline the process of purchasing foreign currency for legitimate travel purposes.