Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)- Bangladesh has made a routine payment of US$692 million to the Asian Clearing Union (ACU) against imports during July-August of this calendar year, officials said.
The payment pushed the country’s foreign exchange reserve down to around $10.62 billion Tuesday from $11.30 billion of the previous day, the central bank officials confirmed.
"We've remitted the fund to the ACU headquarters in Tehran in line with the existing provision of the night-member union," 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 to meet their growing demands in the local market.
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 rose to $692 million in the last installment from $604 million earlier mainly due to increased imports from ACU member countries, the central bank official confirmed.
The ACU is an arrangement among Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Iran, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and 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.
However, Bhutan joined the ACU on December 9, 1999.
Lastly, Maldives has been included as new member from January this year.
BBN/SI/AD-14Sept10-10:46 am (BST)