Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN) – Bangladesh’s foreign exchange reserve crossed US$9.0 billion again on Tuesday as the inflow of foreign exchange increased, officials said.

The foreign exchange reserve fell below US$ 9.0 billion on Monday after making a routine payment to the Asian Clearing Union (ACU) against the two months’ imports from its member countries.

Bangladesh made a routine payment of US$746 million to the ACU against imports during the November-December period of the last calendar year.

The payment pushed the foreign exchange reserve down to US$8.955 billion on Monday from $9.65 billion of the previous day. But it was stood at $9.007 billion on Tuesday, a senior official of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) said.

The amount of payment declined to $746 million in the last instalment from $824 million earlier mainly due to decreased imports, particularly consumer goods, from other ACU member countries.

“We’re importing different consumer items and raw materials from the ACU member countries, particularly from India, to meet the growing demand for the items in the local market,” the central banker noted.

Under the existing provisions, outstanding import bills and interest accrued thereof are settled at the end of every two months among its nine member countries.

The BB official, however, expects that the pressure on foreign currency reserve may ease gradually as higher inflow of inward remittance and steady growth of export earnings in the recent months.

The country’s foreign exchange reserve has been under pressure because of higher import payments, particularly for fuel oils, edible oil, fertilisers and power plant equipment.

“The central bank hopes that the inflow of remittance will touch $1.20 billion by the end of January,” the BB official said, adding that the country’s received $250 million in remittance in the first week of this month.

The remittances from Bangladeshi nationals working abroad were estimated at $1.144 billion, the highest ever monthly inflow, in December last, up by $235.59 million than that of the previous month. In November 2011, the remittance was $908.79 million, the BB data showed.

The BB official also said the pressure on import payments to ease in the coming months as import orders have already recorded a negative growth.

The opening of fresh letters of credit (LCs) against imports, generally known as import orders, registered a negative growth of 2.09 per cent in July-November period of this fiscal compared to a positive one at 3.72 per cent in July-October period in the same fiscal.

“The declining trend in import orders has continued in the month of January largely because of lower imports of food grains,” another BB official said without elaborating.

BBN/SSR/AD-11Jan12-8:11 am (BST)