Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)- The central bank of Bangladesh purchased US$105 million more from nine commercial banks on Thursday, the last working day before the Eid-ul-Fitr festival to help keep the inter-bank foreign exchange (forex) market stable, officials said.
“We’ve bought the US currency from the banks directly at market rate to protect the interests of exporters and migrant workers by keeping the exchange rate of the local currency against the US dollar stable,” a senior official of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) told BBN in Dhaka.
The US dollar was quoted at BDT 77.80 in the inter-bank forex market unchanged from the previous level, market operators said.
"The central bank has expedited purchase of the US dollar from the banks to maintain a balance between supply and demand as flow of the inward remittances increased ahead of the Eid,” the BB official explained.
Bangladesh received $ 599.59 million as remittances between July 1 and July 10 from Bangladeshi nationals who are working abroad, according to the central bank’s latest statistics.
On Tuesday last, the central bank similarly purchased $120 million from 13 commercial banks on the same ground.
“We’re purchasing the US dollar from the banks continuously to protect the interests of both exporters and migrant workers by keeping the exchange rate of Bangladesh Taka (BDT) against the greenback stable,” another BB official said.
The central bank bought $665 million from the commercial banks in the first 15 days of July, the first month of the current fiscal year (FY) 2015-16, as it seeks to rein in the potential volatility in the inter-bank foreign exchange (forex) market.
“We may continue buying of the US dollar from the commercial banks in line with the market requirement," the central banker hinted.
The BB bought $3.76 billion from the commercial banks in the last financial year.
In FY'14 and FY'13, the central bank had bought $5.15 billion and $4.54 billion respectively, the BB data showed.
Bangladesh’s foreign exchange reserve rose to $25.19 billion on Thursday from $25.03 billion of the previous day after the US dollar purchase.
BBN/SSR/AD