Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN) - The central bank of Bangladesh purchased US$35 million more from four commercial banks on Monday, the first working day after the Eid-ul-Fitr vacation, 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.
On Thursday last, the central bank similarly purchased $105 million from nine 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 $700 million from the commercial banks in the first 19 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 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 $25.20 billion on Monday from $25.19 billion of the previous day after the US dollar purchase.
BBN/SSR/AD