Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)- The central bank has strengthened purchase of the US dollar from the commercial banks directly to keep the inter-bank foreign exchange (forex) market stable, officials said.
"The central bank has expedited our intervention in the forex market aiming to protect the interests of exporters and migrant workers by keeping the exchange rate of the local currency against the greenback stable," a senior official of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) told BBN in Dhaka.
As part of the move, the BB bought US$71 million from five private commercial banks on Monday at market rate.
The US dollar was quoted at BDT 78.70-BDT 78.71 in the inter-bank forex market on the day against BDT 78.75 of the previous day, market operators said.
The central bank purchased $3.352 billion from the banks, so far, in the current fiscal year (FY 2012-13) as part of the central bank's intervention in the market, according to the central bank statistics.
The country's foreign exchange (forex) reserve reached $13.515 billion Monday from $13.452 billion of the previous day, following the US dollar purchase.
“We’ll continue such intervention in line with the market requirement to facilitate the exporters and migrant workers," the central banker said, adding that the BB is monitoring the overall forex market closely.
BBN/SSR/AD-12Mar13-11:40 am (BST)
