Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN) - The inter-bank call money rate has moved up slightly on Thursday as withdrawal of cash from banks gathered pace ahead of the Eid-ul-Fitr festival, officials said.
The call rate ranged between 11.50 per cent and 12.00 per cent on the day against the previous day's range between 11.00 per cent and 12.00 per cent. However, most of the deals were settled at rate 12.00 per cent, the market operators said.
"The call money moved up slightly on Thursday ahead of the Eid-ul-Fitr festival, the biggest religious festival for the Muslims,” a senior official of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) told BBN in Dhaka.
He also said the central bank provides liquidity support to the commercial banks to keep the country’s money market stable during the holy month of Ramadan and Eid-ul-Fitr.
As part of the move, the central bank injected fresh funds worth BDT 80.6128 billion at 6.75 percent on the day through auction of repurchase agreement (repo) and special liquidity support to the primary dealers (PDs).
The central bank earlier selected 15 PDs - 12 banks and three non-banking financial institutions (NBFIs) - to deal in government securities in the secondary market.
Besides, the central bank provided BDT 6.60 billion as special repo facility to the banks with the rate of interest ranging between 8.75% and 8.80%.
“The upward trend of call money rate may continue in the coming days, ahead of the Eid festival,” a senior treasury official said, adding that the short-term borrowings normally increase before the Eid festival to meet the growing demand for cash from the bank clients.
BBN/SSR/AD-18Aug11-9:02 pm (BST)
