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The Bangladesh Bank (BB) purchased an additional US$54 million through an auction from four banks in the interbank spot market on Sunday, aiming to stabilise the exchange rate of the US dollar against the local currency.
The amount was bought under the Multiple Price Auction method, with the cutoff rate set at Tk 122.25 per dollar, according to central bank officials. The cutoff rate at the previous auction held on October 14 was Tk 121.80 per dollar.
Since July 13, the BB has purchased $2.28 billion directly from banks under the prevailing free-floating exchange rate arrangement, according to central bank data.
"We are purchasing the American greenback from banks to support exporters as well as remitters by keeping the exchange rate stable," a BB senior official told The Financial Express (FE), explaining the central bank's intervention in the foreign exchange (forex) market.
The ongoing intervention in the forex market is also helping to bolster the country's foreign exchange reserves, the official added.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh's gross forex reserves rose to $31.12 billion on Thursday from $31.10 billion on November 25, according to the central bank's traditional calculation.
Under the International Monetary Fund (IMF)'s Balance of Payments and International Investment Position Manual, Sixth Edition (BPM6), the forex reserves stood at $26.40 billion during the same period, up from $26.39 billion, according to the latest central bank statistics.
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