Written by The Banking Post
The Bangladesh Bank (BB) purchased $83 million from banks today (10 August) in its latest dollar auction, continuing efforts to stabilise the exchange rate and protect exporters and remitters from sudden currency swings.
The central bank paid Tk121.47–Tk121.50 per dollar, bringing total purchases in the current fiscal year (FY26) to $622 million.
This follows earlier interventions, including $45 million bought on 7 August at Tk121.35–Tk121.50, and $10 million on 23 July at Tk121.95—a drop of at least 45 basis points from that rate. The buying streak began on 13 July with $171 million purchased at Tk121.50 in BB’s first-ever dollar auction, followed by $313 million on 15 July.
Officials say the auctions are designed to set a market “signal rate” and prevent excessive volatility in the taka-dollar exchange. “Both a steep rise and a steep fall in the dollar rate hurt the economy,” a senior BB auction committee member said. “We are taking steps to keep rates stable to support exporters and remitters.”
Bankers note that the market is currently seeing an oversupply of dollars, with monthly inflows averaging $6.5 billion—around $2.5 billion from remittances and $4 billion from exports—against imports of $4–4.5 billion. “The excess inflow is pushing the rate down, and BB’s intervention is preventing a sharper drop,” said a deputy managing director of a leading private bank.
