Bangladesh has made a routine payment of US$1.13 billion to the Asian Clearing Union (ACU) against imports during the September-October period of this calendar year, officials said.
After the payment, the foreign exchange (forex) reserve fell to $31.06 billion on Sunday from $32.17 billion on the previous working day, according to the central bank's latest statistics.
The amount of ACU payment came to $1.13 billion during the period under review from $1.15 billion earlier mainly due to lower imports from the ACU member countries particularly from India.
"Lower rice imports from India have pushed down the overall import payment under the ACU arrangement during the period under review," a senior central banker told the FE while explaining the causes of the decreased payment.
He also said Bangladesh is now importing different consumer items, cotton, raw materials and capital machinery from the ACU member countries, particularly from India, Pakistan and Bhutan.
Talking to the FE, a senior official of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) said the central bank has already remitted the fund to the ACU headquarters in Tehran in line with the existing provisions of the union.
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.
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