Call money rate jumps to 20pc

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FE Report
The inter-bank call money rate rose to 20 per cent Thursday from 12 per cent of the previous working day despite injection of fresh fund by the central bank.
"The call rate spiked on the day mainly due to increased demand for liquidity in the inter-bank money market after three-day long Eid holidays," a treasury official of a commercial bank told the FE.
He also said the call rate may come down by the end of next week.
The call rate ranged between 8.50 per cent and 20 per cent Thursday, the first working day after the Eid-ul-Azha holidays. It was quoted at 8.50-12 on December 7 (Sunday) before the market closed for Eid holidays against 8.50-12.50 per cent on December 4 (Thursday).
However, most of the deals were settled between 12 and 15 per cent Thursday, treasury officials of the commercial banks confirmed.
The central bank injected fresh fund amounting to Tk 4.292 billion through repurchase agreement (repo) auction at 8.75 per cent aiming to keep the inter-bank money market stable on the day.
On the other hand, the Bangladesh Bank (BB) withdrew fund amounting to Tk 1.0 billion at 6.75 per cent from the market on the same day through the reverse repo auction, officials said.
"We expect that the call money rate would ease within a couple of days," a senior official of BB told the FE, adding the central bank is now monitoring the overall money market situation closely.