Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)- The central bank purchased US$149 million through an auction from 16 banks in the interbank spot market on Thursday as part of its ongoing efforts to keep the US dollar–taka exchange rate stable.
The purchase was made under the Multiple Price Auction method, with a cutoff rate of BDT 122.29 per dollar, according to Bangladesh Bank officials.
This follows a similar auction on December 9, when the central bank bought US$202 million from 13 banks.
Since July 13, under the prevailing free-floating exchange rate regime, Bangladesh Bank (BB) has purchased a total of US$2.66 billion directly from banks, the latest data show.
“We’re buying US dollars from scheduled banks to help stabilise the exchange rate, which in turn supports export earnings and remittance inflows,” a senior BB official said, adding that such intervention is also helping strengthen the country’s foreign exchange reserve position.
Bangladesh’s gross forex reserves rose to US$31.89 billion on December 10 from US$31.20 billion on December 1 under the traditional calculation method.
Under the IMF’s Balance of Payments and International Investment Position Manual (BPM6), reserves increased to US$27.22 billion from US$26.51 billion during the same period, according to central bank statistics.
BBN/SSR/AD