Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN) - The central bank of Bangladesh on Tuesday provided overdraft (OD) worth US$15 million more to a state-owned commercial bank (SCB) for settlement of its fertilizer import bills.
The Bangladesh Bank (BB), the country's central bank, also sold $10 million at market rate to a specialized bank to meet import payment obligations for the same agriculture input, officials said.
"We have provided the foreign currency support to the SCB and the specialized bank to settle import payment bills for fertilizer," a BB senior official told BBN in Dhaka.
The official also said the central bank will continue its foreign currency support to the commercial banks mainly for making payments of fuel oils, fertilizer and food grains import bills.
On October 16 last, the central bank provided overdraft (OD) worth $12 million to another SCB for settlement of its fertilizer import bills, they added.
The central bank of Bangladesh continues its intervention in the inter-bank foreign exchange market by selling and buying US dollar directly and providing such short term facilities to the banks aiming to keep the market stable.
As part of the intervention, the BB bought $139 million from a foreign commercial bank recently.
The central bank started intervention in the market by selling the US currency directly to the authorized dealers from October 29, 2007 to keep the market steady.
The BB has since sold $735 million to the commercial banks as part of its intervention in the market, officials confirmed.
BBN/SI/SSA/AD-21October08-6:19 PM (BST)