Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN) – The central bank of Bangladesh has sold US$5.0 million more to three commercial banks to meet the growing demand for the greenback in the market.
“We’ve sold the foreign currency to the banks on Tuesday at market rate to settle import payment bills,” a senior official of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) told the BBN in Dhaka.
The US dollar was quoted at BDT 83.75 in the inter-bank forex market on the day unchanged from the previous level, according to the market operators.
The BB may continue providing such foreign currency support to the banks in line with the market requirement, the central banker added.
The central bank of Bangladesh had resumed providing the foreign exchange support in the recent months through selling of the US currency to the banks aiming to keep the foreign exchange market stable.
A total of $57 million was sold since July 01 of the current fiscal year (FY) 2018-19 to the commercial banks as part of its ongoing support, according to BB’s latest data.
The demand for the US dollar has recently increased due to higher import payments pressure, particularly of capital machinery, petroleum products and consumer items including food grains, the market operators added.
BBN/SSR/AD