Bangladesh Bank sells $100 million from reserves

Bangladesh Bank has sold another $100 million from the reserves through auction to restore stability in the foreign exchange market. After a long break $122 million was also sold last week. Concerned officials said this step is being taken to keep the supply of dollars in the market normal as the cost of importing various products including fuel has increased.

In Wednesday’s auction each bank was asked to apply to buy a minimum of $500,000 in a single bid. Earlier the central bank had also called an auction for the sale of $100 million on Tuesday. Although many banks took part in it, the auction was cancelled at the last moment. The banks were not informed why the auction was cancelled.

Until the fall of the Awami League government in August 2024 a huge amount of dollars was sold from the reserves for three consecutive years. As a result the foreign exchange reserves, which were more than $48 billion in August 2021, fell to $25.92 billion.

However after taking charge as governor Dr Ahsan H Mansur clearly said not a single dollar would be sold from the reserves. The current governor also maintained the same position after taking charge. As a result the reserves increased and crossed the $37 billion mark on June 29. On September 1 the reserves stood at $37.41 billion. After that it decreased again and fell to $36.43 billion on Tuesday.

An official of Bangladesh Bank told the media that hope has been created for improvement in the global war situation in the context of the US midterm elections and the change of power in Israel. For this reason the prices of oil and the dollar have decreased in the world market on Wednesday. It can be expected that the ongoing situation in Bangladesh will also improve.

After remaining stable for a long time the price of the dollar has been increasing for the past few days. This week the price of the dollar in the interbank market has crossed Tk 124. In the past two days the dollar has been sold at Tk 124.35 in the interbank market. In the previous two days it was sold at Tk 124.30.

Earlier at the beginning of last October the price of the dollar was Tk 123. From there it increased and stood at Tk 123.99 on the last working day of the month. After the fall of the Awami League government the price of the dollar in the interbank market remained stable between Tk 121 and Tk 122.30 for about one and a half years. From March this year it has increased and reached the current level.