Forex reserves at $24.5bn after ACU payment
Staff Reporter :
The foreign exchange reserves held by Bangladesh Bank have dropped below the $25 billion mark following the record 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 highest since 2021, the central bank’s executive director and spokesman Arif Hossain Khan told the media 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.
In July 2 this year, reserves under the BPM6 method were $26.68 billion, while gross reserves stood at $31.71 billion. The Net International Reserves (NIR) stood at $20.69 billion.
Earlier in July 2024, Bangladesh’s gross foreign currency reserve was stood at US$26.88 billion and The Net International Reserves (NIR) of Bangladesh, was amount to $16.77 billion,a year ago.
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.
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 $1.3 billion in liabilities every two months.
However, the bi-monthly ACU payments had remained below $1.3 billion throughout 2023. Payments started to rise from September-October 2024, culminating in the latest May-June bill of $2.02 billion-the highest since 2021.
Bangladesh Bank’s Executive Director and Spokesperson Arif Hossain Khan stated, “The country’s reserve situation remains comfortable, so the recent ACU payment hasn’t had a major impact.”
On 6 May, Bangladesh paid $1.88 billion for March-April imports, which had brought reserves down to near $20 billion under the BPM6.
However, recent foreign loan inflows from international institutions like the World Bank and the IMF have boosted reserves by nearly $4 billion, easing pressure.