Bundles of hundred dollar notes File photo
Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN) – The central bank has sold US$13 million to Rupali Bank Limited directly to meet the growing demand for the greenback in the market, officials said
“We’ve sold the US dollars to the state-owned commercial bank (SoCB) at market rate on Thursday to settle their import payment obligations practically for petroleum products,” a senior official of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) told BBN in Dhaka on Sunday.
He also said the central bank may provide such foreign currency support to the banks in line with the market requirement.
The US dollar was quoted at BDT 79.79- BDT79.80 in the inter-bank foreign exchange market on the day against BDT 79.78 of the previous working day, market operators said.
The central bank recently resumed intervention in the foreign exchange market through selling the US dollar to the commercial banks directly to keep the market stable.
“The demand for the greenback in the market may ease slightly following selling of the US dollar by the BB to the SoCB,” a senior treasury official of a leading private commercial bank explained.
He also said the demand for the US dollar has picked up recently mainly due to higher import payment pressures particularly for capital machinery, petroleum products, consumer items and scrap vessels.
BBN/SSR/AD