Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)- Bangladesh has made a routine payment of nearly US$880 million to the Asian Clearing Union (ACU) against imports during the March-April period of this calendar year, officials said.
The foreign exchange (forex) came down to $28.36 billion on Thursday from $29.36 billion of the previous level after clearing the payment.
The amount of payment rose to $879 million in the last instalment from $860 million earlier, according to the central bankers.
"We’ve already 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.
He also said Bangladesh may easily meet the import bills for over seven months with the existing reserve.
“We’re still in favourable position on the forex reserve mainly due to higher export earnings but lower import payment obligations,” the BB official explained.
Besides, purchasing of the US dollar from the commercial banks has also contributed to increasing the forex reserve recently, he added.
Under the existing provisions, outstanding import bills and interest accruing thereof are to be paid at the end of every two months.
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