Bangladesh and India yesterday rolled out a landmark cross-border trade settlement mechanism involving the rupee and bypassing the US dollar. As part of the efforts, the Reserve Bank of India has put in place a mechanism to settle international trade in rupees.
The two countries launched a plan to reduce dependence on the US dollar in bilateral trade. Bangladesh hopes this will ease pressure on its foreign exchange reserves, which has led to considerable devaluation of its national currency in the past 18 months.