Import rise weighs down reserves to $18.46b in IMF arithmetic

Bangladesh's imports from the Asian Clearing Union (ACU) member-countries increased nearly 9.50 per cent in September-October, officials said Tuesday, further weighing down the country's forex reserves.
The amount of ACU payment rose to $1.50 billion during the period under review from $1.37 billion earlier mainly due to higher imports from the Union countries, particularly from India.
After the payment, Bangladesh's gross foreign-exchange reserves came down to $24.19 billion on the day from $25.66 billion on Sunday as per traditional calculation by the central bank.
The amount was $25.73 billion last Thursday.
As per the International Monetary Fund (IMF)'s Balance of Payments International Investment Poisson Manual-six edition, generally known as BMP6, the forex reserves fell to $18.46 billion Tuesday from $19.93 billion on Sunday, according to the latest data with the Bangladesh Bank.
Such account of reserves showed $20.01 billion on Thursday.
"Our forex reserves decreased slightly following the routine ACU payment," a senior BB official told the FE, adding that higher inflow of remittances will help build up the reserves again gradually.
Bangladesh received $902 million in inward remittances during the first 11 days of November 2024, according to the central banker.
The BB official also said higher export earnings would also help improve the country's forex reserves.
Bangladesh's merchandise exports grew by 21 per cent year on year to $4.13 billion in October, mainly riding on increased garment shipments, according to official figures.
Earlier, the reserves in dollar, one of the major macroeconomic indicators of an economy, fell to $24.53 billion in terms of gross calculation by the central bank after clearing $1.37 billion import payments to the Asian Clearing Union on September 07 last while the reserves stood at $19.46 billion as per IMF's BMP6.
The BB official also said the central bank had already remitted the funds to the ACU headquarters in Tehran in line with the existing provisions of the union.
As per the existing provisions, outstanding import bills and interest thereon are to be paid by member-countries every two months.
Bangladesh now imports different consumer items, cotton, raw materials and capital machinery from the ACU-member countries, especially from neighbouring India, according to the central banker.
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 set sail 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.

[email protected]