Reserve at $20 Billion After Paying $1.67 Billion to ACU
- Update Time : 04:02:00 pm, Thursday, 9 January 2025
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Bangladesh Bank has paid $1.67 billion to the Asian Clearing Union (ACU) for November-December dues, maintaining the foreign exchange reserve at $20 billion. Previously, after paying $1.5 billion for September-October dues, reserves dropped to $18.46 billion. In September, a payment of $1.37 billion brought reserves down to $18.38 billion, which gradually increased to $21.68 billion as of last Wednesday.
The ACU is an inter-country transaction settlement system involving Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Iran, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, and Pakistan. Sri Lanka exited the union due to its economic crisis. Bangladesh Bank has stopped selling dollars from reserves and is managing payments through special arrangements. The reserve’s stability is largely due to a record $13.78 billion in remittances during July-December of the current fiscal year, a 27.56% increase. Exports also rose to $24.53 billion, a 13% growth compared to the same period last year, while imports remained stable due to strict anti-money laundering measures.
Over the past three fiscal years, $31 billion was sold from reserves to stabilize the forex market, leading reserves to drop from a record $48 billion in August 2021 to current levels. The exchange rate of the dollar surged from 84 BDT to 123 BDT. Despite these challenges, $3.3 billion in outstanding foreign debt has been cleared since the government’s fall on August 5. Upcoming inflows from IMF, World Bank, and other organizations are expected to boost reserves further.
