Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)- The central bank of Bangladesh has continued its foreign currency support to the banks for settling the import payment obligations, particularly of food grains, fuel oil and capital machinery.
As part of the move, the Bangladesh Bank (BB) on Monday sold US$4.0 million directly to three commercial banks to meet the growing demand for the greenback in the market.
"We’ve sold the US currency to the banks at market rate," a senior official at the BB told the BBN in Dhaka.
He said the central bank might continue such foreign currency support to the banks in line with the market requirement.
Meanwhile, the exchange rate of Bangladesh Taka (BDT) also depreciated slightly against the US dollar in the inter-bank market on the day.
The US dollar was quoted at BDT 82.90 on Monday against BDT 82.88 of the previous day, according to the market operators.
The BB has resumed providing the support in the recent months through selling of the US currency to the banks directly to keep the market stable.
A total of $1.26 billion has been sold since July 01 of this fiscal year, 2017-18, according to BB's latest data.
The demand for the US dollar is gradually increasing, mainly due to higher import payments pressure, particularly of capital machinery, petroleum products and consumer items like food grains.
BBN/SSR/AD