BB so far bought $5.38b from banks in FY26
Business Report:
Bangladesh Bank has so far purchased $5.38 billion from commercial banks through auctions in the current fiscal year 2025-2026 to maintain stability in the foreign exchange market and support remittance and export earnings.
The central bank on Sunday bought $123 million from 8 commercial banks at a cut-off rate of Tk 122.30 per US dollar. This brings the total purchase for February to $1.45 billion.
The central bank has been buying the US dollar in recent months amid improved inflows and easing pressure on the foreign exchange market.
In August 2021, Bangladesh’s reserves hit a record high of $48 billion. However, soaring imports, a widening current account deficit, and heavy dollar sales by the central bank to support the taka caused reserves to plummet in subsequent years. The former government sought a $4.7 billion IMF bailout in July 2022 to shore up the dwindling reserves.
Between FY21 and FY25, Bangladesh Bank sold more than $25 billion from its foreign exchange reserves to meet import payments for fuel, fertiliser and food.
However, it has resumed purchasing dollars since the beginning of the current fiscal year as supply increased on the back of higher export earnings and remittance inflows.
Experts said the forex reserves rebound in recent months due to the significant increase of remittance inflows , sustained growth in export earrings and the central bank new move to buy US dollars in auction from commercial banks under the prevailing free-floating exchange rate regime.
The country’s foreign exchange reserves have continued to rise due to the central bank’s steady dollar purchases.
Reserves stood at $30.06 billion on February 19 this year, as per the IMF calculation, up from $20.79 billion on the same date a year ago, according to Bangladesh Bank data.
The higher supply of dollars, driven by increased remittance inflows through banking channels, has prompted commercial banks to sell dollars to the central bank, with the resulting purchases via auctions significantly boosting foreign exchange reserves.
In January 2026, remittance inflows amounted to $3.17 billion, marking the third-highest monthly total on record and a 45.41 Percent increase compared to $2.18 billion received in January 2025.
