Several countries in the world’s top shrimp-producing region are struggling to satisfy their own appetites for shrimp because of disease, drought and the economic crisis. The oil spill is one more factor driving prices skyward, sending a worldwide ripple through an already tight shrimp market.

The price of plump black tiger shrimp is at a 10-year high in Vietnam, selling for around $13.50 per kilogram ($6.14 per pound), said Bui Dung, a manager at Minh Phu, Vietnam’s biggest shrimp exporter in the southern Mekong delta province of Ca Mau. He said heat waves along with disease outbreaks have led to smaller yields on farms. Domestic consumption has remained high, nibbling away at cold stocks normally available for export prior to August harvests.

“The demand, particularly from the U.S., is huge,” Dung said. “We receive order requests from U.S. importers almost everyday, but we cannot meet all their demands.”

Americans have an insatiable craving for shrimp, eating about 4 pounds (1.8 kilograms) a year. And while wild Gulf shrimp provides only about 7 to 9 per cent of that supply, the oil spill will likely send some U.S. restaurants and super markets into a short-term frenzy, said Fatima Ferdouse, chief of trade promotion at Infofish, an intergovernmental organization for the Asia-Pacific fishery industry based in Malaysia.

“It backfired because in the American market, they planned to sell … this much domestic shrimp from the Gulf for summer, which they’re not getting now,” she said by phone. “So they have to fill in the gap. They panic and then the easy way to get it is to go through import ? they don’t have any other choice.”

According to Infofish, wholesale shrimp prices have risen by about 15 to 20 per cent since a BP-operated oil rig exploded 10 weeks ago, causing an undersea blowout that has spewed millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf.

Gavin Gibbons, a spokesman for the U.S.-based National Fisheries Institute, a trade group, said Americans might see a price increase on their plates in the short term, but he’s hopeful Asian production will pick back up to keep consumers from feeling a prolonged pinch.

“It’s the No. 1 most consumed seafood in America,” he said. “People eat more shrimp than they do canned tuna.”

Ecuador is the only country among the top five U.S. importers located outside of Asia. More than a third of the nearly 550,000 tons of shrimp imported by the U.S. last year came from Thailand, the top shipper, according to Infofish.

Thailand has remained a stable supplier, largely unaffected by a virus that has crippled stocks in Bangladesh and Indonesia, the second top supplier to the U.S. last year. For the January-April period before the Gulf oil spill, U.S. imports of Indonesia shrimp were down 30 per cent from a year earlier. Imports from Thailand were up about 17 per cent over the same period, Infofish data reported.

Last year was the first time the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization estimated a drop in worldwide shrimp aquaculture production, following the global economic crisis which forced many farmers out of business. But now, prior to the peak summer shrimp-eating season, it’s a sellers’ market.

Larger shrimp are in short supply, pushing prices to the highest level in two years, according to Infofish. Demand for the black tiger shrimp, which is very popular in Japan, has been particularly high, with prices increasing $1 a pound ($ 0.50 a kilogram) since early June.

“The demand worldwide is quite strong. The economic crisis seems to be over, especially the U.S. and Japanese markets are really demanding a lot of shrimp,” said Helga Josupeit, a fishery industry officer at GLOBEFISH, an FAO program in Rome that tracks international fish trade and publishes price reports. “If anyone wants to invest in a shrimp farm, they probably will make some money.”

Some farmers say it’s ironic that the U.S. is now forced to lean more on overseas suppliers to help meet demand. In 2004, the same Gulf Coast shrimpers affected by the oil spill successfully lobbied Washington to slap antidumping tariffs on Vietnam, Thailand, India, Ecuador, Brazil and China, accusing them of flooding the U.S. market with artificially low priced shrimp.

“It’s good to see U.S. shrimp importers are coming back to Vietnam,” said farmer Nguyen Tat Thang. “But I care more about how much profit I earn from the farm, which I am not seeing increase because of rising production costs.”

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The country??s overall trade deficit fell to $3.929 billion between July 2009 and March of this year from $4.062 billion during the same period the previous year, according to central bank statistics.

??Lower food grain imports as well as lower prices of essential items in the international market have contributed to reducing the trade gap during the period under review,?? a senior official of the Bangladesh Bank, the country??s central bank, told Media.

He also said the decline in the trade deficit may not continue in the coming months because of rising prices of commodities in the international market as major economies show signs of recovery.

During the period, export earnings stood at $15.485 billion against imports of $11.556 billion, the banks’s data showed.

Central bank officials said food imports continued to decline as the country has built enough stock of rice, the main food item, after record production of “Boro” and “Aman” crops in the last three consecutive years.

During the period, import of food grains dropped by 12.55 percent to $620.45 million against $709.51 million in the corresponding period in the previous fiscal.

The officials, however, said food grain imports, particularly rice, have been increasing since April.

Food grain importation stood higher at 2.976 million tons during the July-April period of this fiscal compared to 2.649 million tons in the same period last yea

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They said almost all the major sectors including exports, imports, remittance and the stock market of the South Asian country have performed well in 2009 despite the shocks of global recession.

The country’s central bank Thursday said Bangladesh attained a 5.9 percent GDP (gross domestic product) growth in the first half of the current fiscal year 2009-10 (July 2009-June 2010), leaving six more months to achieve the 6 percent target.

“Our GDP target growth will be achieved by the end of the fiscal year as all the key indicators of the economy are showing positive trend,” Bangladesh Bank (BB) governor Atiur Rahman told reporters Thursday.

Briefing journalists on the economy in the outgoing 2009 Thursday, he said this year began with fear of global recession shocks but the Bangladesh Awami League-led newly elected government after coming into power in January this year set right kind of directions to safeguard the country’s economy from the shocks of recession.

As a result of the time befitting measures, the governor said growth in the country’s two major sectors — export and agriculture– was satisfactory in the outgoing year 2009. Bangladesh’s export earning grew at a rate of 10 percent in 2009 and agriculture by 4.8 percent, he added.

The BB governor said imports including capital machinery are also on rise, indicating that the domestic business and investments are gaining momentum.

The central bank data showed Bangladedsh’s capital machinery import surged by 24 percent in July-November of this fiscal year while imports of consumer goods in the same period rose by 44 percent year on year.

Rate of inflation, a major concern of the country, was at 5.1 percent in October, the BB governor said and expressed the hope that it would not go beyond this fiscal year’s target of 6.5 percent.

An economist on condition of anonymity said political stability, which is very rare in the South Asian, also contributed to achieve steady economic growth in 2009.

Bangladesh maintained a steady growth in 2009 despite global financial turmoil but growing power and energy shortages and poor infrastructure remained as a major hurdle to the country’s industrial activities, Annisul Huq, President of Bangladesh’s apex trade body, was quoted as saying in a report of leading English newspaper The Financial Express Thursday

The BB governor, however, differed from the arguments that the inadequate energy supply would hinder the employment and eventually the poverty reduction initiatives.

Production of electricity in the public sector in Bangladesh in2009 stood reportedly at about 4,300 MW per day against the daily demand for about 7,000 MW.

The BB governor also referred to the highest ever foreign exchange reserves, remittances despite huge fall in overseas jobs, stable exchange rates, adequate liquidity in the banking sector and increasing revenue earnings.

Bangladesh’s foreign exchange reserves hit a record high of 10.36 billion U. S. dollars at the end of the last month from 9.54 billion U.S. dollars at the end of October.

The BB data showed in July-November, the first five months of Bangladesh’s financial year 2009-10 (from July 2009 to June 2010),remittances totaled 4.67 billion U.S. dollars, registering a 24.40percent growth over the corresponding period of the previous fiscal year.

It showed domestic investment increased by 15 percent during January-October this year despite the foreign direct investment registered fall to some extent.

Listing future challenges of the economy, Atiur said the impact of climate change would remain the main challenge to the development of the country as the number of man-made disasters are on rise in the recent years.

Bangladesh suffered a big blow due to cyclone Aila in May, 2009,which was the biggest natural calamity in the country after a powerful cyclone Sidr that battered its southwestern coastal belt on Nov. 15, 2007 and claimed lives of over 4,000 people.

source : http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-12/31/content_12736663.htm

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Of the additional $1.1 trillion (666 billion pound) programme committed by the Group of 20 major advanced and emerging economies, only $50 billion was targeted specifically at low income countries, the government said.

“The resources must be distributed adequately for the benefit of the poor nations and that needs strong commitment from the developed world,” said Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith.

The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) and Bangladesh Bank, the central bank, organised a four-day meeting on strengthening the response to the global financial crisis in the region.

Noeleen Heyzer, the Under Secretary General of the United Nations and Executive Secretary of UN-ESCAP, also called for a larger share of additional resources for both short term liquidity and long term development financing.

“With over four trillion dollars in foreign exchange reserves, the Asian region now has the resources to foster a major programme of generating additional demand through investments in regional infrastructure development,” Noeleen said.

He said the global crisis, billed as the worst since the Great Depression of the 1930s, could cost as many as 24.8 million people in the Asia Pacific region their jobs.

“Millions more will experience rising income insecurity,” Noeleen said in the meeting attended by senior central bank and government financial officials from most of the countries in the region including China, India, Malaysia, Pakistan, Philippines, Republic of Korea, Russian Federation, Thailand and Vietnam.

“The region’s dynamism that helped in lifting millions of people out of poverty over the past decade is now under threat with the average growth rate for developing Asia-Pacific coming down from 8.8 percent in 2007 to 5.8 percent in 2008 and to just 2.8 percent this year,” he said.

He said that experience from Asia’s 1997 economic crisis indicates that while economic growth may resume relatively quickly, it could take up to 10 years to recover the ground lost to poverty and social breakdown.

“Demand weakness in North America and Europe caused by chains of insolvencies and wide-scale job losses sharply weakened exports from manufacturing hubs in our region,” said Bangladesh’s central bank governor Atiur Rahman.

Workshop On Global Financial Crisis To Begin In Bangladesh Monday
A high profile international workshop will begin in the capital, Dhaka on Monday where participants will brainstorm on the global financial crisis, officials said on Sunday.

The workshop has been organized by the macroeconomic policy and development division of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), the regional arm of the United Nations headquartered in Bangkok, and hosted by the Bangladesh Bank, the central bank of Bangladesh.

Senior finance and central bank officials from 17 Asia-Pacific countries will meet in the four-day workshop titled “Strengthening the response of the global financial crisis in Asia-Pacific: the role of monetary, fiscal and external debt policies,” to look at various economic policies used by regional governments in dealing with the global crisis.

“Participants are expected to share how conditions in their countries, and their ability to respond, determined the different economic approaches governments ultimately used,” the central bank of Bangladesh said in a press statement.

Sharing of best practices in implanting effective macro-economic polices and identifying key areas for regional cooperation and coordination will also be a common thread for discussion throughout the meeting, the statement added.

Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith is scheduled to inaugurate the workshop, followed by an opening message from Dr. Noeleen Heyzer, under-secretary-general of the United Nations and executive secretary of ESCAP. The governor of the Bangladesh Bank, Atiur Rahman, will deliver the keynote address.

The participating countries are Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, Fiji, India, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Republic of Korea, Russian Federation, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam

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They said all indicators relating to monetary policy and exchange rate will be included in the new monetary policy statement.

Under the new monetary policy, the central bank will ask the banks and non-banking financial institutions (NBFIs) to strengthen internal control to avert any financial risks.

“The BB will also gear up its monitoring and supervision aiming to keep unhurt the country’s banking system from the global financial crisis,” the BB official added.

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Market players, however, welcomed the BB’s move saying that such intervention is needed to keep the market stable.

“The central bank is playing its regulatory roll giving comfort to us,” Vice-Chairman of the Bangladesh Foreign Exchange Dealers’ Association and Chief Executive Officer of the Janata Bank Limited S.M. Aminur Rahman told the AHN in Dhaka on Monday.

A senior treasury official of a foreign commercial bank said such measure will benefit both exporters and migrant workers who send home billions of U.S. dollars each year.

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Its expected that the visit will bring many opportunity for both contry win win factors

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Bangladesh growth would be moderate: IMF

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has predicted a moderate growth rate for Bangladesh in view of the global economic slowdown, which has dented the country’s exports.

At the same time, the IMF said Bangladesh seems to have benefited too from the global fall in prices of oil, food and other commodities as a result inflation in the country has come down to six percent, a two-year low.

?Overall, Bangladesh’s economy has so far remained relatively robust,” it said in a statement at the conclusion of its mission to Bangladesh from March 30 to April 2.

The IMF said the domestic economy has retained momentum from a favourable agricultural performance and it continues to benefit from the fall in food, fuel and other commodity prices.

Limited capital account dependence has largely protected the country’s banks and stock market from the first round impact of the global crisis.

However, pressures from the global slowdown continue to build and it is likely that growth will moderate, IMF said.

?Garment and other exports are slowing and garment export orders are now declining. Any significant slowdown in the export sector is likely to weigh heavily on the domestic economy through a reduction in demand for services, transport and construction,” it said

………………………………

Detail:

The following statement was issued today in Dhaka after the conclusion of an International Monetary Fund (IMF) staff visit to Bangladesh:

?A team led by Mr. Masato Miyazaki, Advisor in the Asia and Pacific Department of the IMF, visited Dhaka March 30 ? April 2, 2009 to discuss recent economic developments with the government and other stakeholders. The team was privileged to meet with Finance Minister AMA Muhith, Planning Minister AK Khandker, Advisor for Finance and Planning Dr. Mashiur Rahman, Bangladesh Bank Governor Dr. Salehuddin Ahmed, Finance Secretary Dr. Mohammad Tareque, NBR Chairman Md. Abdul Mazid, other senior government officials, and members of the private sector and civil society. The team expresses its deep appreciation to the authorities and others for sharing their valuable time for discussions.

?Overall, Bangladesh?s economy has so far remained relatively robust. The domestic economy has retained momentum from a favorable agricultural performance. Bangladesh continues to benefit from the fall in food, fuel and other commodity prices and this has helped bring inflation down to 6 percent, a two-year low. Limited capital account dependence has largely protected the country?s banks and stock market from the first round impact of the global crisis.

?However, pressures from the global slowdown continue to build and it now seems likely that growth will moderate. Garment and other exports are slowing and garment export orders are now declining. Any significant slowdown in the export sector is likely to weigh heavily on the domestic economy through a reduction in demand for services, transport and construction. Remittances remain robust but in recent months the number of workers leaving Bangladesh for employment abroad has declined and the number of workers returning from abroad has risen. These factors may put downward pressure on the current account of the balance of payments and increase the need for policies to maintain the momentum of domestic demand.

?The revised budget for FY2009 (July-June) and the budget for FY2010 should be formulated with a view to create the fiscal space necessary for contingent actions that may become necessary to help ease economic challenges to the population. This will be difficult in light of likely shortfalls in revenue in FY2009 and the fact that revenue prospects are likely to be very weak in FY2010 and future years without appropriate changes in tax policy and revenue administration. The upcoming budget provides the opportunity for the government to signal its major economic policy intentions. In this context, the new government should consider carefully revenue reforms to support government spending for infrastructure and social investment that, in turn, will boost the economy?s medium-term growth potential and accelerate poverty reduction. Further support for increased public investment should come through steps to develop a robust and transparent framework for public-private partnerships and strong efforts to streamline the project approval process and project implementation.

?Improving efficiency of financial markets is vital to bringing down the cost of financing growth. Recent expansion in the secondary market for government paper is an encouraging sign and should help with the emergence of a yield curve that can be used to help develop corporate bonds and other debt instruments. Dealing with distressed assets and enhancing the capital base of the state-owned commercial banks is needed to build and maintain confidence in the overall financial system. The government should assist these banks to clean up and strengthen their balance sheets while ensuring strengthened oversight of these banks.

?The mission looks forward to returning to Dhaka for the annual Article IV Consultation later in 2009.?

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After a landslide victory you are assuming the premiership of Bangladesh when the world is facing one of the worst recession of contemporary history. There are good reasons to believe that Bangladesh will face the trauma of the global recession by late 2009. The have-nots and the poor people of our country will not be able to bear it. So you have no option but to be proactive and act in time to surprise the world. Your and our creator gave you a lifetime chance to write your name in gold as the world’s most benevolent lady prime minister by turning Bangladesh to a middle income country during your office this time as prime minister. You have to address the issue of income distribution and social justice in our country very thoughtfully. You should be the first Prime minister of Bangladesh with the aim of raising awareness and creating framings and visions that promote equal dignity for all citizens in the country you govern.

Premier Sheikh Hasina:
I hope you will share with my concept- “Road map to good governance- The Nine-I model” (see http://www.goodgovernancebd.org/ for details) for building a democratic society ensuring good governance. However political democracy rests on economic democracy, and economic democracy assumes a social order that provides equal opportunity for every member of the society to become economically self-sufficient and free from the dominance of some who control their subsistence in today’s world.

I am confident you will share the ideology of “the equitable distribution of wealth.” The key to economic self-sufficiency is growing the productiveness of the economy in such a way that lifts artificial barriers to equal access to those social institutions (e.g. Capital, credit) that determine who will become empowered as future capital owners. In Bangladesh only then can today’s property less citizens receive just share of their capital assets as well as wages for their work to meet their economic needs and develop to the fullest extent of their human capacities.
You have no time to rest but to move forward with your supporters as well as the supporters of Begum Zia, because at least 10- 12% of her supporters trusted you in this election for at least two reasons.

1. In view of many, the former prime minister wanted to salvage the “Maha Chors” and political cronies of her party which seemed like she wanted to present the nation a reign of corrupts and extremists. A political blunder on the part of an experienced former prime minister.

2. According to her critics, Begum Zia, during her honeymoon with “Razakars”, “Al-Badars”, and “Al-Shams” not only distributed political sweets but also distributed our national flag to them which was earned with the sacrifice of millions. The new generation voters expressed sharp reaction in this election by rejecting the collaborators of the genocide in 1971.

Honorable Prime minister:
The world changed a lot. I know that now you know it better than anyone that you have to cope with international diplomacy of the world politics. Global circumstances cannot be ignored. See Barack Obama meticulously organized his team to salvage the sinking US economy and bring the change for which he is elected to his office.
You should meticulously arrange and rearrange the medium sized cabinet which you can gradually expand evaluating the performance of the cabinet members. You can throw out the bad performers after six months if they fail to give us good governance for which the country paid heavily last two years in both economic and political terms. If the credibility of any of your ministers are questionable or if anyone of them were convicted or corrupt at least by perception, kindly throw them out as soon as the first evidential complain against them reaches you. Congratulations for bringing new faces as ministers and junior ministers, thus creating a space for new leadership in your party.

Madam Prime minister:
Can you consider of giving some lessons to your cabinet crews so that they see how ministers in other democratic countries behave. Kindly arrange some cultural training for your ministers so that they can think, talk and act democratically.
People of Bangladesh no more wants to see vehicles carrying national flags in fish markets, marriage ceremonies, birthday parties, “gaye holuds”, clubs or community centers. Please teach them that, this is how they create a distance with their electoral and ensure confirm defeat in the future elections. There is a dogma in Bangla that “joto mantri toto porajoy.” Please instruct them not to irritate citizens with sirens and police men to demonstrate the presence of a minister. Ministers should limit themselves in using national flags in official business only and use sirens only while rushing to the airport or the parliament or any other urgency. In this way people will not hate them but will talk to them with open minds, irrespective of political identity. This approach will make them accountable to the people from all walks of life present in different social programs. This will pave the path towards a new accountable political culture.

Madam PM— Media is your friend not foe:
We have a very strong vibrant media now to act as a watchdog against misrule and misgovernance and corruption. Our media has always played an admirable role to see a truly participatory and functioning democracy in the country where hopes, aspirations and will of the people will prevail and not trampled by elected despotic and authoritarian rule. Kindly instruct your ministers not to waste time by countering the media. The media cannot bring down any government. The media can only inform the government in advance that the voters will bring them down in the next election. Unfortunately some politicians always failed to receive the media message until they miserably fail in elections. The ministers should correct themselves seeing the public reactions in the mirror of the media.

Madam PM– Give target to Bangladesh diplomatic missions abroad:
To combat the global recession you have to increase the flow of foreign remittance which is presently in the decrease.
Please double the target of manpower export from Bangladesh to the countries that require skilled or semi-skilled manpower from Bangladesh. Let our ambassadors know that you will call them back if they fail to fulfill the new target of manpower export. Instruct them to explore new markets and also to create demand for our manpower in the countries already importing manpower from us. They should perform just like bank managers or have to come back home to do some other job. This is how you can fulfill your election pledge to create one job each house. Also remittances will show an uptrend and will give us a better position to combat the global recession.

Madam PM– Form Council of experts with people who wants to volunteer:
Many experts from different subject matters do neither want to become minister nor get other government facilities in lieu of their service to develop the economy and governance. They only need your patronization to render service to develop different sectors to take the country ahead. There is no harm if you consider council of experts in different fields like 1.Governance, 2.Trade and commerce, 3.Banking, 4.Insurance, 5.Exploring new markets for manpower exports, 6.Employment creation, 7.Regulating price, and 8.Monitoring law and order, etc. These councils will submit reports to you every three months to assist you to call the respective ministers for a brainstorm towards policy decisions. This will help you to remain well informed and will also stop the ministers from going in the wrong direction.

Beware of Cars without number plate and MP’s without tin numbers:
Will your government allow anybody to drive vehicles without a number plate? Your voters are eager to see whether you will allow MP’s and ministers without tin number to run the country. Please don’t allow tax evaders to handle the money of the tax payers. Give two options to the MP’s without tin number which are- 1. They should rush to the NBR to get a number or 2. Quit from the government headed by the daughter of Bangabandhu. If mistakenly anybody without a tin number is sworn as a minister, instruct him to quit as he will be a glaring example for citizens not to pay tax.

Beware of Isolation syndrome:
Madam prime minister, may I draw your kind attention to the historical fact that some viruses in the civil-military bureaucracy and political nexus infect the prime ministers to develop a disease termed “Isolation Syndrome.” The disease becomes chronic when political cronies build air tight, air con compartments for the Prime minister, creating a No way to talk?No way to write?No way to reach situations. Due to Isolation syndrome Prime ministers can’t hear the people?can’t read the mind of their people. The voters can only see their Prime minister in small T.V. screens. No wonder everybody understands the gravity of security threats for any prime minister, especially security threats for the daughter of the father of the nation. But at least fix a fax or e-mail for complains to reach you, which you can see during your breakfast. I am confident everybody responsible for governance will be highly alert.

When I was writing this open letter from the University of Chittagong, you were busy taking oath. I was overwhelmed with millions of other democracy loving people of Bangladesh to see a group of clean people (perceived) as cabinet ministers. Once again Congratulations Prime minister Sheikh Hasina.

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Bangladesh Bank (BB), slashed its interest rate on repurchase agreement (repo) and reverse repo after nearly seven months aiming to offset the ongoing global financial recession through boosting fresh investment.

“Slashing interest rates on deposit by the commercial banks will encourage investment of fresh funds in different sectors that would also help offset the impact of ongoing global economic recession on the country’s economy” Analyst.

Market is now having more liquidity than the end of the last calendar year because of falling trend of import payments and export performances recently,” the chief executive officer of a private commercial bank said, adding that more banks might also cut their interest rates on deposit in the next months in line .

?

Meanwhile, only one commercial bank reduced its interest rates on lending this month, while two banks raised interest rates on lending for different sectors, the BB officials said.

The country’s commercial banks are now offering interests in the range between 5.25 per cent and 13.50 per cent on fixed deposit schemes, while the rates for saving accounts varies between 2.50 per cent and 8.00 per cent, according to the central bank statistics.

Currently, the banks provide loans to large and medium scale industries at interest rates ranging between 11 per cent and 15 per cent and to small industries between 10 per cent and 16.50 per cent.

Interest rates on housing loans range between 11.50 per cent and 16.00 per cent and consumer credits 10.50 per cent and 19.00 per cent.

The banks lending rates on working capital to large and medium scale industries range between 10.50 per cent and 16.00 per cent and for small industries between 10.50 per cent and 16.50 per cent, the BB data showed.

Bangladesh world banking :

The central bank of Bangladesh purchased $15 million more in U.S. dollars from two commercial banks on Tuesday to keep the inter-bank foreign exchange market stable.to help?Banks comply with the net open position (NOP) rules for holding the foreign currency fund properly.The central bank continues its intervention in the inter-bank foreign exchange through selling and buying of the U.S. currency directly and providing overdraft facilities to the banks.

-Back Story :

17th March, 2009 the BB similarly purchased $18 million from two private commercial banks on the same ground.

The central bank of Bangladesh started the intervention in the market by buying the U.S. currency directly from the commercial banks on Jan. 15. to keep the market steady.

Since then, the BB has bought $307.20 million from commercial banks as part of its intervention in the market, they confirmed.

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