The central bank sold $25 million more to two commercial banks directly on Tuesday to meet the growing demand for the greenback in the market, officials said.
"Today, we've sold the US currency to the banks at market rate to settle their import payment obligations, particularly for food grains," a senior official of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) told the FE.
However, the exchange rate of Bangladesh Taka (BDT) remained unchanged against the US dollar in the inter-bank forex market on the day.
The US dollar was quoted at Tk 80.80 each, unchanged from the previous level, according to the market operators.
The BB official hinted that the central bank would continue providing such support to the banks in line with the market requirement.
"We're selling the US dollar to the banks for making their import payments against petroleum products and food grains," the central banker explained.
The BB has resumed providing the foreign exchange support in the recent months through selling of the US currency to the banks directly to keep the market stable.
The BB sold $45 million to five banks in the first week of this month on the same ground.
Since July 01, a total of $224 million has been sold to the commercial banks as part of the ongoing support, according to the BB's latest data.
The demand for the US currency is increasing gradually, mainly due to higher import payment obligation, particularly of capital machinery, petroleum products, consumer items including food grains, according to market operators.
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