Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)- The central bank of Bangladesh sold US$83 million more to three state-owned commercial banks (SCBs) Thursday for settlement of their import bills for petroleum products, officials said.
“We’ve sold the US currency at market rate to three SCBs on the day directly to meet the growing demand for the greenback,” a senior official of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) told BBN in Dhaka.
The US dollar was quoted at BDT 73.13-BDT 73.23 in the inter-bank foreign exchange market on Thursday against BDT 73.12 –BDT 73.18 of the previous working day, market operators said.
The central bank official said the BB provides such foreign currency support continuously to the banks to settle outstanding letters of credit (LCs) against imports of essential items including food grains, fuel oils and rental power plant equipment.
On Monday, the central bank also sold $7.0 million to a SCB on the same ground.
“The foreign currency support to the banks will continue in line with the market requirement,” the BB official said, adding that the central bank is monitoring the overall market situation closely.
The central bank has so far pumped in $968 million directly to the commercial banks to meet higher demand for the greenback in the current fiscal year, the BB data showed.
BBN/SSR/AD-12May11-9:10 pm (BST)
