Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN) – The central bank of Bangladesh on Tuesday sold US$18 million at market rate directly to four private commercial banks (PCBs) to meet their demand for the greenback.
“We’ve provided the foreign currency support to the PCBs to settle import payment bills for fertilizer and edible oil,” a senior official of the Bangladesh Bank (BB), the country’s central bank, told BBN in Dhaka.
He also said the central bank will continue its foreign currency support to the commercial banks mainly for making payments of fuel oils, fertilizer and food grains import.
On October 23 last, the central bank sold $30 million to two commercial banks – one an SCB and another a foreign commercial bank –to meet their growing demand for the greenback.
The central bank continues its intervention in the inter-bank foreign exchange market by selling and buying US dollar directly and providing such short term facilities to the banks aiming to keep the market stable.
As part of the intervention, the central bank of Bangladesh bought $139 million from a foreign commercial bank recently.
The BB started intervention in the market by selling the US currency directly to the authorized dealers from October 29, 2007 to keep the market steady.
The BB has since sold $735 million to the commercial banks as part of its intervention in the market, officials confirmed.
BBN/SI/SSR/AD-28October08-9:47 PM (BST)
