BBN file photo
Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN) – The central bank of Bangladesh has sold US$10 million to Rupali Bank Limited directly to meet the growing demand for the greenback in the market, officials said.
“We’ve sold the US dollars to the public banks at market rate on Thursday to settle their import payment obligations,” a senior official of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) told the BBN in Dhaka.
He also said the central bank may provide such foreign currency support to the banks in line with the market requirement.
The US dollar was quoted at BDT 80.45 in the inter-bank foreign exchange market on the day against BDT 80.40 of the previous working day, market operators said.
Earlier on Wednesday last, the BB provided $2.0 million to a foreign commercial bank on the same ground.
The central bank recently resumed intervention in the foreign exchange market through selling the US dollar to the commercial banks directly to keep the market stable.
“The demand for the greenback in the market may ease slightly following selling of the US dollar by the BB to the banks,” a senior treasury official of a leading private commercial bank explained.
He also said the demand for the US dollar had increased recently mainly due to higher import payment pressures particularly for capital machinery, petroleum products, consumer items and scrap vessels.
BBN/SSR/AD