BB buys US$102m from banks directly

The central bank has expedited purchase of the US dollar from the banks to keep the market stable despite lower demand for the greenback due to the ongoing political unrest.
As part of the latest moves, the Bangladesh Bank (BB) bought US$102 million from the banks directly in the last two working days to offset higher supply of foreign exchange in the market.
"The political turmoil has adversely impacted on import orders which led to lower demand for the US dollar recently," a senior treasury official of leading private commercial bank explained.
He also said falling trend of the imported commodities particularly fuel oil prices in the global market has been a major reason for the lower demand for the greenback in the local market.
Besides, most of businessmen are now following a 'go-slow' policy to avoid risk, the private banker noted.
"We're purchasing the greenback from the banks directly to protect the interests of exporters and migrant workers by keeping the exchange rate of the Bangladesh Taka (BDT) against the US dollar stable," Kazi Sayedur Rahman, general manager of the Forex Reserve and Treasury Management Department of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) told the FE.
He also said such purchasing helps the banks to comply with the net open position (NOP) rules for holding foreign exchange properly.
The central bank bought $57 million more from three commercial banks at market rate Tuesday to help keep the inter-bank foreign exchange (forex) market stable.
The US dollar was quoted at Tk 77.80 in the inter-bank forex market on the day unchanged from the previous level, market operators said.
On Monday last, the central bank similarly purchased $45million from a commercial bank on the same ground.
Talking to the FE, another BB official said the central bank may continue such intervention in line with the market requirement.
A total of around $1.65 billion was bought from the commercial banks between July 2 and February 3 last of the fiscal year (FY) 2014-15 for offsetting its increased supply to the market.
The BB purchased a record $5.15 billion from the banks in the FY 14 on the same ground, the BB data showed.
The country's foreign exchange reserve rose to $22.19 billion Tuesday from $22.10 billion of the previous day following the US dollar purchase.
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