Country’s call money market stays stable ahead of Eid ul Azha and Durga Puja as commercial banks have taken short term measures and that Bangladesh Bank supplied liquid cash in to the market. “We have taken steps through our treasury bill purchase and other means to keep cash flow normal in the market,” said Mohammad Humayn Kabir, deputy director, debt management department of Bangladesh Bank.

The highest call money rate hit 12.50 per cent for non bank institutions on Tuesday. Most deals were settled in between 6 to 12.50 percent. However, weighted call money rates for the banks was 10.18 percent while the previous Tuesday it was 8.72 per cent, said the BB official.

Total turnover in the call money market was Tk 6,453.50 crore on Tuesday while the previous Tuesday it was Tk. 6,909 crore.

State owned commercial banks borrowed the highest amount of money from the call money market. On Tuesday, Agrani Bank’s borrowing stood at Tk. 1,043 crore while Sonali Bank’s Tk 926 crore.

Foreign commercial banks borrowed an amount of Tk 121 crore, while specialised banks 336 crore, private commercial banks Tk 6,408 crore and the non bank institutions borrowed Tk 783 crore respectively.

The banks have also taken steps to keep call money market stable ahead of two top festivals including Durga Puja. The short-term borrowings normally increase before the Eid as demand for cash rises. This year a substantial amount of fresh fund was injected by the BB in to the market, said Shymal Kumar Sadhu, executive of ONE Bank Ltd.

Besides, the central bank is also providing a substantial amount of Tk 200 million in fresh notes to avoid the crisis of funds during religious celebrations.

"The central bank has used different monetary instruments including re-selling agreement (repo) to keep call money market stable before the Eid and Durga Puja," said Md. Abdur Rahim, general manager of Bangladesh Bank, Motijheel Branch.

Moreover, BB has provided fresh fund by purchasing the US dollars from the commercial banks directly to keep the exchange rate of the Bangladesh Taka stable against the green back, Rahim also explained.

BB on Tuesday has provided liquidity supports for banks worth of Tk 10,897.32 crore.  Of the amount, it injected an amount of Tk. 1,863 crore against special repo and Tk 9,034.32 crore against Treasury bonds and bills.

News: The Daily Independent/Bangladesh/18th-Oct-12