BB continues to buy more dollars in auction

Business Report :

Bangladesh Bank has purchased another $176 million from commercial banks in its latest effort to stabilize the foreign exchange market amid signs of excess supply.

With the latest intervention on Thursday the central bank has, so far, bought US dollars amounting to $764 million in six auctions from commercial banks operating in the country since July 13 this year under the prevailing free-floating exchange rate regime.

Spokesperson Arief Hossain Khan informed the media that the central bank bought the dollars at Tk 121.5 each. Earlier in the mid of last month the exchange rate of the American greenback continued to fall against the local currency.

To tackle the sharp fall, the banking regulator on July 13 bought $171 million from 18 commercial banks through an auction – the first such move under the floating rate system.

The cut-off rate for the latest transactions was Tk 121.50 per dollar, down by 45 per cent from that of July 24, 2025.

Such purchases were intended to bolster the country’s forex reserves, which came under pressure due mainly to rising import payments and global economic headwinds, according to sources.

According to central bank officials, the regulator acted to prevent excessive volatility.

It wants to keep the forex market stable, because both a rise and a fall are not good indicators.

If the US dollar weakens too much, exporters and remitters feel discouraged and suffer losses.

Since the beginning of latest intervention, the local currency has lost its value at Tk 0.85 against the US dollar.

On the first day of its intervention, the reference rate stood at Tk 120.67 per dollar and the rate stood at Tk121.52 for a US dollar at the end of Thursday’s business hours, it was learnt.

Economists, however, criticized the central bank’s move amid high inflation in Bangladesh, arguing that allowing the dollar rate to drop further could help contain inflation.