The central bank has expedited the purchase of US dollars from commercial banks ahead of the Eid-ul-Azha festival to keep the inter-bank foreign exchange (forex) market stable, officials said Tuesday.
As part of the latest move, Bangladesh Bank (BB) has bought US$ 171 million from the banks directly in the last two working days to offset higher supply of foreign exchange in the market before the Eid.
“Higher inflow of remittances has contributed to increase in the supply of foreign exchange ahead of the Eid festival,” a senior official at BB told the FE.
The country received $186.19 million as remittances between October 01 and October 04 from Bangladeshi nationals working abroad, according to the central bank statistics.
The BB official also said the central bank has strengthened its intervention in the forex market to protect the interests of exporters and migrant workers by keeping the exchange rate of the Bangladesh Taka (BDT) against the US currency stable.
The BB bought $90 million from two private commercial banks Tuesday at Tk 77.75 a dollar as part of the move.
A total of $1.301 billion was bought from the commercial banks between July 1 and October 8 last of the current fiscal (FY) 2013-14 as part of the BB’s intervention in the market.
However, the country’s foreign exchange reserve stood at $16.56 billion on the day following the US dollar purchase. “Such an intervention may continue in line with the market requirements,” the central banker said without elaborating.
On the other hand, the inter-bank call money rate remained stable Tuesday as the central bank continued injecting fresh funds into the market using different monetary tools to keep it stable ahead of the Eid and Durga Puja festivals.
The call money rate ranged between 6.50 per cent and 8.25 per cent on the day — unchanged from the previous working day. However, most of the deals were settled between 7.0 per cent and 7.25 per cent, according to market operators.
“We expect that the call money rate may rise slightly during the remaining three working days before the Eid and Puja festivals,” a senior treasury official of a commercial bank told the FE.
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