BB pumps over $1b in July to tame forex volatility

The Bangladesh Bank pumped over $1 billion into the country’s banking industry in the 28 days of July alone to cool down the foreign exchange market. On Thursday, it injected $50.40 million to banks from its forex reserves in a bid to tackle the rise in value of the US currency.

According to the central bank data, the central bank injected a record $7.62 billion from its reserves to banks in the last fiscal year.

Due to the continued USD selling spree of the central bank, the foreign exchange reserve of Bangladesh dipped to $39.47 billion the same day, compared to $46.15 billion recorded in December of last year.

The letter of credit settlements – also known as actual import payment – rose by 46.15 per cent to $83.68 billion in FY22 when compared year-on-year.

The official interbank exchange rate stood at 94.70 per USD on Thursday as the local currency devalued by 10.11 per cent this year.

On Thursday, most of the banks collected remittance from foreign exchange houses at a rate of Tk 105 to Tk 109. Meanwhile, importers
also spent around Tk 104 to Tk 108 per USD to pay import bills, according to bankers.