Bangladesh forex reserves stand at $24.5bn after ACU payment

Bangladesh Bank data says the country’s gross reserve stands at slightly less than $29.52 billion

The foreign exchange reserves held by Bangladesh Bank have dropped below the $25 billion mark following the payment of import bills through the Asian Clearing Union (ACU).

A total of $2.02 billion had been paid to ACU to cover the bills for the past two months, the bank’s Executive Director and spokesman Arief Hossain Khan told reporters on Tuesday.

“As a result, reserves calculated under the BPM6 method used by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) now stand at $24.45 billion. The gross reserve is slightly less than $29.52 billion,” he added.

However, Bangladesh Bank did not disclose the net reserve figure.

According to the bank’s data, as of Jul 2, reserves under the BPM6 method were $26.68 billion, while gross reserves stood at $31.71 billion.

The central bank maintains three types of reserve data -- gross reserves (which include various funds), reserves calculated under the IMF’s BPM6 method, and usable reserves.

The ACU was established on Dec 9, 1974, as an initiative of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP).

Its membership is open to the central banks of countries within the UNESCAP geographic region. ACU’s headquarters is located in Tehran, the capital of Iran.

The current members of ACU are Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Iran, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives. However, Sri Lanka withdrew from ACU in October 2022 due to its reserve crisis.

Under the ACU, member countries settle their import-export liabilities every two months. On average, Bangladesh Bank settles about $1.25 billion in liabilities every two months.