Forex reserve at $5.10b after payment to ACU
Wednesday, 5 November 2008
FE Report
Bangladesh has made a routine payment of around US$500 million to the Asian Clearing Union (ACU) against imports for the September-October period of the current year, officials said.
The payment pushed the foreign exchange reserve down to $5.10 billion Tuesday from $5.50 billion of the previous day.
"We've already remitted the fund to the ACU headquarters in Tehran in line with the existing provision of the eight-member union," a senior official of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) told the FE.
The amount of payment came down to $498 million during the period under review from $582 million of the July-August period of this year indicating lower imports in terms of value from other ACU member countries, he added.
"The import payment to the ACU member countries declined slightly due to the downward trend of commodity prices in the global market," the BB official observed.
Under the ACU provisions, settlement of the balance and accrued interests stemming from the imports is made at the end of every two months among the member countries.
The ACU is an arrangement comprising Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Iran, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka to settle payments for intra-regional transactions among the participating central banks on a multilateral basis.
The union started its operations in November 1975 to boost trade relations among the member countries. Bangladesh and Myanmar joined the union as the sixth and seventh members in 1976 and 1977 respectively.
However, Bhutan joined the ACU on December 9, 1999.
Bangladesh has made a routine payment of around US$500 million to the Asian Clearing Union (ACU) against imports for the September-October period of the current year, officials said.
The payment pushed the foreign exchange reserve down to $5.10 billion Tuesday from $5.50 billion of the previous day.
"We've already remitted the fund to the ACU headquarters in Tehran in line with the existing provision of the eight-member union," a senior official of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) told the FE.
The amount of payment came down to $498 million during the period under review from $582 million of the July-August period of this year indicating lower imports in terms of value from other ACU member countries, he added.
"The import payment to the ACU member countries declined slightly due to the downward trend of commodity prices in the global market," the BB official observed.
Under the ACU provisions, settlement of the balance and accrued interests stemming from the imports is made at the end of every two months among the member countries.
The ACU is an arrangement comprising Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Iran, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka to settle payments for intra-regional transactions among the participating central banks on a multilateral basis.
The union started its operations in November 1975 to boost trade relations among the member countries. Bangladesh and Myanmar joined the union as the sixth and seventh members in 1976 and 1977 respectively.
However, Bhutan joined the ACU on December 9, 1999.