BB buys $85m more from banks

The central bank directly purchased US$85 million more from eight commercial banks on Thursday to help keep the inter-bank foreign exchange (forex) market stable, officials said.
"We're continuously purchasing the US dollar from the bank at market rate to protect the interest 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 in the inter-bank forex market, unchanged from the previous level, market operators said.
"The demand for the US currency decreased in the market, mainly due to lower prices of commodities, including petroleum products, in the global market," another BB official explained.
He also said the country saves around $300 million each month because of lower prices of fuel oils in the international market.
Besides, the country received $292.27 million as remittance between August 1 and August 7 from Bangladeshi nationals who are working abroad, according to the central bank's statistics.
"We may continue purchasing the US dollar from the banks in lime with the market requirement," the central banker hinted.
A total of $1.12 billion was brought from the commercial banks between July 2 and August 13 of the current fiscal year (FY), 2015-16, for offsetting its increased supply to the market.
The central bank brought $3.76 billion from the commercial banks in the last fiscal. In FY 14 and FY 13, the central bank bought $5.15 billion and $4.54 billion respectively, the BB data showed.
The country's foreign exchange reserve rose to $25.90 billion on Thursday from $25.76 billion of the previous day following the US dollar purchase.
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