BB continues forex support to banks for import bills settlement

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FE Report The central bank has continued its foreign exchange support through selling US dollar directly to the commercial banks for settlement of import bills. As part of the operation, the Bangladesh Bank (BB) sold US$12 million at market rate to a state-owned commercial banks (SCBs) directly Monday to meet the growing demand for the greenback. "We've provided the foreign currency support to the SCB to settle outstanding letters of credit (LCs) against imports of fuel oil," a senior BB official told the FE, adding that such operation will continue in line with the market requirement. The US dollar was quoted at Tk 80.78-Tk 80.84 in the inter-bank foreign exchange market on the day against Tk 80.65-Tk 80.73 of the previous working day, the BB data showed. The country's foreign exchange reserve stood at $9.35 billion Monday after the sale of $12 million by the central bank to the SCB, the central banker added. The central bank has so far pumped in $636 million directly to the commercial banks to meet the increasing demand for the greenback in the current fiscal year.