Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)- The central bank of Bangladesh has strengthened its foreign exchange support through selling the US dollar directly as well as providing overdraft (OD) facilities to the banks for settlement of import bills.
"We wants to minimize mismatch in supply and demand of foreign exchange in the market through strengthening such supports to the banks," a senior official of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) told BBN in Dhaka on Thursday.
He also said the central bank has expedited the foreign currency support to the commercial banks to settle import payment bills for essential items including food grains, petroleum products and power plant equipment.
As part of the operation, the central bank sold US$ 30 million directly to three state-owned commercial banks on Thursday to meet the growing demand for the greenback.
Besides, the BB has provided OD facilities for $ 75 million to two SCBs on the same day on the same ground, the central bank official said.
“Such operation will continue in line with the market requirement,” the BB official said, adding that the central bank is monitoring the overall market situation closely.
He also said the central bank has so far pumped $ 733 million directly to the commercial banks to meet the soaring demand for the greenback in the current fiscal year.
BBN/SI/AD-24Mar11-9:52 pm (BST)
