Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)- Bangladesh made a routine payment of US$1.37 billion to the Asian Clearing Union (ACU) against imports during the July-August period of this calendar year, officials said.
The country’s forex reserve fell to $24.53 billion on Monday from $25.87 billion of the previous working after clearing the payment as per traditional calculation of the Bangladesh Bank (BB).
As per the International Monetary Fund (IMF)’s Balance of Payments International Investment Poisson Manual-six edition, generally known as BMP6, the forex reserves dropped to $19.46 billion during the period under review from $20.60 billion a day ago, according to the central bank’s latest data, released on the day.
The central bank has already remitted the fund to the ACU headquarters in Tehran in line with the existing provisions of the union, according to a BB senior official.
Under the existing provisions, outstanding import bills and interest thereof are to be paid by the member countries at the end of every two months.
Bangladesh is now importing different consumer items, cotton, raw materials and capital machinery from the ACU member countries, especially from neighbouring India.
The amount of ACU payment came down to $1.37 billion during the period under review from $1.42 billion earlier mainly due to lower imports from the ACU member countries particularly from India.
The ACU is an arrangement involving Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Iran, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and the Maldives through which intraregional transactions among the participating central banks are settled on a multilateral basis.
The union started its operation in November 1975 to boost trade among the member countries. Bangladesh and Myanmar joined the union as the sixth and seventh members in 1976 and 1977 respectively. Bhutan joined the ACU in December 1999 and the Maldives in January 2010.
BBN/SSR/AD