Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)- The central bank of Bangladesh on Tuesday provided overdraft (OD) facilities to the tune of US$10 million to a state-owned commercial bank (SCB) for settlement of fuel oil import bills, officials said.

“We’ve provided the OD facilities to the SCBs against government approved securities to settle petroleum products import payment bills,” a senior official of the Bangladesh Bank (BB), the country’s central bank, told BBN in Dhaka.

The central bank will continue its foreign currency support to the commercial banks mainly for making payments for fuel oils, fertiliser and food grains import, the official added.

On November 17, the central bank of Bangladesh similarly offered OD facilities for $18 million to another SCB for settlement of Petrobangla’s outstanding gas bills with an international oil company.

The BB continues its intervention in the inter-bank foreign exchange market by selling and buying the greenback and providing such short term facilities to the banks aiming to keep the market stable, they added.

As part of the intervention, the central bank bought $139 million from a foreign commercial bank recently.

The BB started intervention in the market by selling the US currency directly to the authorized dealers from October 29, 2007 to keep the market stable.

The central bank has since sold $735 million to the commercial banks as part of its intervention in the market, they confirmed.

BBN/SI/SSR/AD-25November08-8:47PM (BST)