Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)- The central bank of Bangladesh purchased US$65 million more from eight commercial banks on Tuesday to help keep the inter-bank foreign exchange (forex) market stable ahead of the Eid-ul-Azha, officials said.
“We’re buying the US currency from the bank 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 on the day unchanged from the previous level, market operators said.
On Monday, the central bank similarly purchased $80 million from seven banks on the same ground.
A total of $1.62 billion was bought from the commercial banks between July 02 and September 22 of the current fiscal year (FY) 2015-16 for offsetting its increased supply to the market.
The central bank 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.
“We may continue buying of the US dollar from the banks in line with the market requirement,” another BB official hinted.
Bangladesh’s foreign exchange reserve rose to $26.22 billion Tuesday from $26.15 billion of the previous day following US dollar purchase.
BBN/SSR/AD