Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN) - Bangladesh has made a payment of US$692 million to the Asian Clearing Union (ACU) against imports during July-August period of this calendar year, officials said.
The payment pushed the foreign exchange reserves down to $10.22 billion on Monday, from $10.98 billion the previous working day, according to the central bank statistics.
"The central bank has already remitted the fund to the ACU headquarters in Tehran in line with the existing provision of the nine-member grouping,” a senior official of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) said, adding that Bangladesh is importing different consumer items and raw materials from the ACU member countries, particularly from India.
Under the existing provisions, outstanding import bills and interest accruing against thereof are settled at the end of every two months among the member countries.
The amount of payment declined to $692 million in the last installment from $837 million earlier, mainly due to lower imports, particularly consumer goods, from other ACU member countries.
Under the existing provisions, outstanding import bills and interest accruing against thereof are settled at the end of every two months among the member countries.
The ACU is an arrangement among Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Iran, Burma, officially known as 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 relations 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 on December 9, 1999, and the Maldives from January 2010.
BBN/SSR/AD-13Sept11-12:53 am (BST)