Dhaka, Jan. 15 -- Bangladesh and India discussed means of expanding areas of local-currency trade as a way of dodging dollar dearth, a monetary crunch that affects many economies worldwide.

Officials said the matter came up during discussion on a wide range of bilateral issues in a meeting between Foreign Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud and Indian envoy in Dhaka Pranay Verma on Monday.

"This was a courtesy call, but we discussed a wide range of bilateral issues, especially initiative of making payment for bilateral trade through local currency," the minister said.

"The payment system through local currency for bilateral trade started on a pilot basis recently. But now we have discussed how to expand it, and how to make it more popular," the n...