The Bangladesh Bank injected over $7 billion into the country's volatile foreign exchange (forex) market in around 11 months of the current fiscal year 2021-22 to protect the Taka against the strengthening US dollar.
A total of $7.34 billion has been sold from Bangladesh's forex reserve since August 18 of the current fiscal to commercial banks as part of the central bank's ongoing liquidity support, according to latest official figures.
It strengthened its foreign currency support to the scheduled banks in recent months to handle volatility in the forex market, officials said.
As part of the ongoing moves, Bangladesh Bank sold $1.39 billion to the banks during June 1-23 of this calendar year, adding up to the 11-month tally.
It was $1.03 billion in May 2022.
Market operators, however, said the demand for the greenback has been gradually increasing - following the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war along with an economic rebound from the Covid-19 pandemic.
Higher prices of commodities, including fuel-oils, in the global market also pushed up import payment obligations in recent months, they explained.
The settlement of letters of credit (LCs), generally known as actual import, in terms of value, rose by 48.25% to $67.87 billion during the July-April period of FY22, from $44.78 billion in the same period of the previous fiscal, according to the central bank's latest statistics.
The treasury official also urged the authorities concerned to manage both demand and supply sides of the US currency - instead of its supply side only - to bring back stability in the market.
Inward remittance dropped nearly 16% to $19.19 billion during the July-May period of FY22 - from $22.84 billion in the same period of FY21, BB data showed.
The forex reserve dropped to $41.47 billion on Sunday - from $48.06 billion in August, according to official figures.
On the other hand, the US currency was quoted at Tk92.95 each on the day, unchanged from the previous level. It was Tk92.80 on June 19.
The local currency lost its value worth Tk7.15 or 8.33% from January 2022.
The dollar was traded at Tk85.80 each on January 8.
The Taka is maintaining a depreciating trend - mainly due to higher outflow of foreign exchange - following a hefty growth in import payment amid global price rise, compared to the inflow in the last few months.