Banks have increased the price of US dollar up to Tk119.40 after getting central bank instruction to rate hikes to lure more remittance in the legal channel.

Over a dozen banks increased the US dollar exchange rate on Monday (July 29) for remittance, while the flow of expatriate remittances saw a downfall since the last week of this month.

Bank officials said that internet service closure and the recent students` quota reform demonstration impacted inward remittance flow.

To boost the flow of remittances, the Bangladesh Bank gave verbal instructions to banks on Sunday to purchase remittance dollars even at higher rates. As a result, the remittance dollar rate surged by 60-70 basis points in a span of a day on Monday.