B Mirror Report:  The Bangladesh Bank (BB) on Wednesday purchased another US$109 million from eight commercial banks through an auction in the interbank spot market, aiming to keep the exchange rate of the US dollar against the taka stable.

The dollars were bought under the Multiple Price Auction method, with the cut-off rate set at Tk 122.30 per dollar, central bank officials said.

The latest intervention came amid a stronger inflow of inward remittances during the first 17 days of the current month. Remittance earnings rose by nearly 25 per cent to $1.97 billion between February 1 and 17 this year, compared to $1.58 billion during the same period last year.

According to the central bank’s latest data, BB has purchased a total of $5.15 billion from banks since July 13 under the existing free-floating exchange rate regime.

A senior BB official said the central bank is buying dollars directly from banks to offset higher remittance inflows ahead of the holy Ramadan. He noted that such interventions help maintain exchange rate stability, which in turn supports exporters and remitters.

The official also said the ongoing market operations are contributing to a gradual improvement in the country’s foreign exchange reserves.

Bangladesh’s gross foreign exchange reserves rose to $34.54 billion on February 17, up from $34.32 billion on February 10, according to traditional central bank calculations.

Under the IMF’s Balance of Payments and International Investment Position Manual (BPM6), reserves stood at $29.86 billion during the period, compared to $28.69 billion earlier.