Staff Reporter :
Bangladesh Bank has bought close to $1 billion from commercial banks over the past month and a half, including $47.50 million on Tuesday as part of its move to stabilise the exchange rate and support remittance and export earnings.
Central bank spokesperson Arief Hossain Khan told reporters that since launching dollar auctions on 13 July, the regulator has so far purchased $950 million.
“Today, $47.50 million was taken from eight banks at exchange rates between Tk121.70 and Tk121.75 under the Multiple Price Auction system. The cut-off was Tk121.75,” he said.
On 28 August, Bangladesh Bank had similarly bought $149.5 million through another auction. Although the initial plan was to purchase $30 million that day, the bank ended up taking a much higher volume, with the cut-off set at Tk121.70.
The first such intervention took place on 13 July, when the central bank picked up $171 million at Tk121.50. Two days later, on 15 July, it bought another $313 million at the same rate. This marked a notable policy shift, with the central bank actively stepping in to prevent the dollar from depreciating too quickly.
A deputy managing director of a top private bank explained that robust remittance and export inflows over the past year helped lenders settle long-pending import bills, especially for fuel. With those obligations cleared and import demand easing, dollar supply has now overtaken demand, putting downward pressure on the rate.
“The central bank’s action is essentially aimed at keeping the dollar within a targeted band of Tk121.50 to Tk122.50,” the banker noted.
As per Bangladesh Bank data, foreign exchange reserves stood at $26.34 billion under the BPM6 methodology as of 2 September 2025.
