Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN) – The central bank of Bangladesh sold US$10 million more at market rate to a state-owned Sonali Bank Limited directly on Tuesday to meet the growing demand for the greenback.
“The central bank has sold the foreign currency to the state-owned commercial bank to settle outstanding letters of credit (LCs) against imports of petroleum products,” a senior official of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) told BBN, adding that the central bank wants to minimize the mismatch between demand for, and supply of, foreign exchange in the market through providing such support to the commercial banks.
On Monday, the BB sold $5.0 million and provided overdraft (OD) facilities for $20 million to the same SCB on the same ground.
The BB has so far pumped $147 million directly to the commercial banks to meet their increasing demand for the greenback in the current fiscal year, according to the central bank statistics.
“Such liquidity support will continue in line with the market requirement,” the BB official said, adding that the central bank is monitoring the overall situation in the foreign exchange market closely.
BBN/SSR/AD-19Oct11-10:15 am (BST)
