BD clears $1.0b ACU payment

Bangladesh has made a routine payment of US$ 1.002 billion to the Asian Clearing Union (ACU) against imports during the March-April period of the current calendar year, officials said.

After the payment, the country's foreign exchange (forex) reserve came down to $ 23.22 billion Thursday from $ 24.14 billion on the previous working day.

"We've already remitted the payment to the ACU headquarters in Tehran in line with the existing provisions of the nine-member union," a senior official of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) told the FE Saturday.

Under the existing provisions, outstanding import bills and interests thereof are to be paid at the end of every two months among the member countries.

The amount of payment stood at more than $ 1.0 billion in the last instalment that was almost equal of the earlier payment, the BB official added.

"We're importing different consumer items, cotton, raw materials and capital machinery from the ACU member countries, particularly from India," the central banker explained.

The ACU is an arrangement involving Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Iran, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and the Maldives through which intraregional transactions among the participating central banks are settled on a multilateral basis.

The union started its operation in November 1975 to boost trade among the member countries. Bangladesh and Myanmar joined the union as the sixth and seventh members in 1976 and 1977 respectively. Bhutan joined the ACU in December 1999 and the Maldives in January 2010.

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