Bangladesh`s foreign exchange reserves have fallen down to USD 37.06 billion after the central bank had cleared import bills to the Asian Clearing Union, an arrangement to settle payments for intra-regional transactions among member countries including Bangladesh.
The Bangladesh Bank paid $1.73 billion on Wednesday (September 7, 2022) to clear payments for its imports from other member countries of the ACU.
India is a member of platform and Bangladesh`s second largest source of import.
Bhutan, Iran, the Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka are other members of the Tehran-headquartered ACU. The member countries of the ACU clear their payments every two months.
In August of last year, Bangladesh`s foreign exchange reserves soared to $48 billion, the highest-ever in the country`s history.
However, due to the high level of import payments, reserves have been declining since May of this year. The global supply chain interruptions caused by the Russia-Ukraine war have had a significant impact on the reserves.
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