Bangladesh sees foreign currency reserves drop to $29.47bn after import bill settlement

The ACU is a regional arrangement through which member countries settle payments for intra-regional transactions every two months

Bangladesh’s foreign exchange reserves have decreased to $29.47 billion after the central bank settled a $1.51 billion import bill through the Asian Clearing Union (ACU).

According to data released by Bangladesh Bank on Sunday, the payment was cleared last Thursday.

Arief Hossain Khan, executive director and spokesperson for the Bangladesh Bank, confirmed that under the IMF’s BPM6 manual, the reserves now stand at $29.47 billion.

Prior to the ACU settlement, the reserves were recorded at $30.96 billion (BPM6).

In terms of the central bank's gross calculation, the reserves stood at $35.61 billion, which has now dropped to $35.14 billion following the payment.

The ACU is a regional arrangement through which member countries settle payments for intra-regional transactions on a multilateral basis.

The member nations include Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Iran, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, and Pakistan.

The clearing union settles its accounts every two months. Sri Lanka, once a member, withdrew from the union in October 2022 amidst its severe economic crisis.