BB buys $45m more to keep forex mkt stable

The central bank purchased US$45 million more from three commercial banks Monday to keep the inter-bank foreign exchange (forex) market stable against any volatility, officials said
"We've bought the US currency from the banks directly at market rate to protect the interests of exporters and migrant workers by keeping the exchange rate of the local currency against the US dollar stable," a senior official of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) told the FE.
The US dollar was quoted at Tk 77.80 on the inter-bank forex market, unchanged from the previous level, market operators said.
The central banker said such purchasing also helps the banks comply with the net open position (NOP) rules for holding foreign exchange properly.
"We're bound to sell the greenback to the central bank as lower demand for the US currency continues because declining trend of all commodities, including fuel oil, is maintaining a downward trend on the global market," a senior treasury official of a private commercial bank said to explain intervention in the money market.
Talking to the FE, another BB official said the supply side of the foreign currency has improved recently mainly due to higher inflow of remittance along with steady growth of export earnings.
Bangladesh received $ 483.73 million as remittances between April 1 and April 10 from Bangladeshi nationals working abroad, according to the central bank's latest statistics.
The remittances from Bangladeshi nationals working abroad were estimated at $1.33 billion in March 2015, up by $122.80 million from the level of the previous month. In February last, the remittances stood at $1.19 billion.
"We may continue such intervention in line with the market requirement," the BB official said, without elaborating.
A total of $2.69 billion was bought from the commercial banks between July 2 and April 13 last of the current fiscal (FY) 2014-15 as part of the BB's intervention in the market.
The central bank purchased a record $5.15 billion from the banks in the FY 14 on the same grounds, the BB data showed.
Country's foreign-exchange reserves rose to $23.32 billion Monday from $23.25 billion of the previous day following the dollar purchase.
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