Bangladesh Bank is now limiting the sale of dollars to banks as Ramadan imports were putting pressure on the country's low forex reserves, particularly for import financing.
Officials at Bangladesh Bank however said the cautious stance was taken because the supply of the greenback continued to grow on the forex market thanks to growth in export and remittance earnings.
Sources said a significant growth in the opening of LCs against import of eight most-consumed Ramadan essentials, wherein most of BB-released dollars are spent in recent months, largely prompted the tightening.
According to official statistics, the BB sold $1,410.70 million (over $1.4 billion) to the banks in October 2022 followed by $1,395 million, $1,442.86 million, and $1,221.80 million in November, December and January (2023) respectively.
The central bank has scaled down the sale of the US currency since February when only $924.26 million was sold.
The handout figure further declined to $640 million up to March 22, 2023.
According to BB statistics, the central bank sold to banks $235 million in FY21 followed by a rise to $7.62 billion in FY22.
The upward trend in selling dollars intensified further in the ongoing FY23 with $10.56 billion sold out as of March 5, 2023.
On the other hand, the reserves were recorded at $46.39 billion in FY21 and it declined to $41.83 billion in FY22.
The reserve as of March 22 of this fiscal stood at $31.30 billion, and is believed that the record dollar sale contributes largely to the significant fall.
