BB continues to support banks for forex dealings

FE Report The central bank has continued to provide support to the commercial banks through selling of the US dollar in the foreign exchange (forex) market to facilitate settlement of import bills, officials said. "We've sold US$3.0 million more at market rate to a private commercial bank directly Tuesday to meet the growing demand for the US currency," a senior official of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) told the FE. The US dollar was quoted at Tk 71.32-Tk 71.35 in the inter-bank foreign exchange market on the day against Tk 71.30-Tk 71.32 of the previous working day, market operators said. The BB official also said the central bank's foreign currency support to the private commercial banks is mainly purported to settling import payment bills for food grains. Last Monday, the central bank sold $25 million likewise to a state-owned commercial bank on the same ground, the BB official confirmed. "Such an intervention will continue in line with the requirements of the market," another BB official said, adding that the central bank is closely monitoring the country's overall forex market situation. As part of the intervention, the BB has so far sold $642 million to the commercial banks to meet the growing demand for the greenback, he added.