After almost 16 years, Bangladesh Bank sold gold at auction. 25 kg 312 grams of gold of different quality was sold for Tk 17 crore 99 lakh. These golds were handed over to the buyer company Venus Jewelers after completing all the processes on Wednesday (April 3).
Earlier, in November 2022, for the sale of this gold, the Central Bank was unable to sell it due to lack of suitable bidders.
Spokesperson and Executive Director of Bangladesh Bank. Mazbaul Haque said that the gold seized by customs detectives was sold through auction. 17 crore 99 lakh received against sale has been deposited in the account of Customs. This gold was sold through the second auction.
It is known that about 2 thousand 429 kg of gold taken in the permanent sector has already been bought by Bangladesh Bank and added to the country’s foreign exchange reserves. Apart from this, 1 thousand 87 kg 400 grams have been returned to the owner or sold at auction so far.
Bangladesh Bank last sold about 22 kg of gold at auction in July 2008. After that, in November 2022, another 25 kg 312 grams of permanent sector gold was sold. After various processes, the auction was held in November of that year. A few companies participate in this auction but offer relatively low bids. Because of that, instead of selling at that time, the initiative of auction was taken again in May last year. After various processes, the auction was held last October. Only 3 institutions participated in it. The central bank evaluates the rates offered by the institutions. In this, the price offered by the highest bidder, the price of 25 kg gold stands at a little more than 17 crore rupees. But since this price is lower than the central bank’s projection rate, the auction committee could not decide to sell. After that, the matter was discussed in detail in the meeting of the senior management team last February, but no decision was taken to sell it.
Talking to the concerned people, it is known that Bangladesh Bank fixed the projection rate of selling gold at least 10 to 20 percent lower than the rate (market rate) given by Bangladesh Jewelers Association (BAJUS). If the auction is equal to or higher than that rate, then the relevant committee of the central bank sells the gold.
