Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)- The central bank of Bangladesh has continued to purchase the US dollar from the commercial banks directly to keep the inter-bank foreign exchange (forex) market stable.
 
“We’ve expedited its intervention in the market recently to protect the interest of exporters and migrant workers through keeping the exchange rate of local currency against the greenback stable,” a senior official of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) told BBN in Dhaka.
 
As part of the move, the central bank bought $45 million on Tuesday from two private commercial banks (PCBs) at market rate to offset the increased supply of foreign exchange in the market.
 
The US dollar was quoted at BDT 80.20-BDT 80.25 in the inter-bank foreign exchange market on the day against BDT 80.25-Tk 80.36 of the previous working day, market operators said.
 
The BB similarly purchased $6.0 million on Monday from a Shariah-based Islamic bank on the same ground.
 
A total of $1.75 billion was bought from the commercial banks, so far, in the current fiscal year (FY 2012-13) as part of the central bank’s intervention in the market, the BB data showed.
 
BBN/SSR/AD-19Dec12-10:05 am (BST)