Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)- Bangladesh has made a routine payment of US$ 732 million to the Asian Clearing Union (ACU) against imports during the March-April period of this calendar year, officials said.
After this payment, the country's foreign exchange (forex) reserve came down to $ 9.59 billion Wednesday from $ 10.30 billion of the previous working day, they added.
"The central bank has remitted the fund to the ACU headquarters in Tehran in line with the existing provision of the nine-member union," a senior official of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) told BBN in Dhaka.
Under the existing provisions, outstanding import bills and interest accruing thereof are to be paid at the end of every two months.
The BB official also said the amount of payment came down to $ 732 million in the last installment from $ 893 million earlier mainly due to lower imports from ACU member countries.
The ACU is an arrangement among Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Iran, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and the Maldives through which intra-regional transactions among the participating central banks are settled on a multilateral basis.
The union started its operations in November 1975 to boost trade among the member countries. Bangladesh and Myanmar joined the union as the sixth and the seventh members in 1976 and 1977 respectively. Bhutan joined the ACU in December 1999 and the Maldives in January 2010.
BBN/SSR/AD-10May12-10:15 am (BST)
