Ever since the imposed tightening on imports from April-May 2022 by Bangladesh Bank, the import payment with the Asian Clearing Union (ACU) has gradually come down, along with the total import bill.
However, the amount of this bill has started to rise since May-June 2023.
The highest amount of this stood at $1.29 billion in January-February 2024, which is the highest after September-October of 2022, when it was $1.32 billion.
According to a central bank official, after ACU payment Bangladesh's foreign exchange reserves are likely to fall below $20 billion this week.
The ACIU payment in September-October 2022 was $1.32 billion, in November-December it was $1.12 billion.
In January-February of 2023, it was $1.05 billion, March-April $1.18 billion, May-June $1.09 billion, July-August $1.2 billion, September-October $1.21 billion, and in November-December it was $1.27 billion.
Spokesperson and Executive Director of the Bangladesh Bank Md Mezbaul Haque told Dhaka Tribune: “We are ready to pay the ACU's bill on the value day, after confirming the bill.”
In banking, a value date is the day when funds are posted to an account and are available for immediate use.
The country's gross forex reserve stands at $19.98 billion now as per calculations based on the International Monetary Fund's Balance of Payment Manual 6, as of Monday.
He also said it would take an additional one or two days to adjust the forex reserves after the ACU payment.
The ACU is an arrangement for settling payments for intra-regional transactions among member countries, including Bangladesh.
It is an international transaction settlement system, through which transactions between Bangladesh, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Bhutan, India, Iran and Pakistan are settled.
Due to their situation, Sri Lanka withdrew from ACU on October 14, 2022. and banks in Bangladesh were told not to deal with the island through the mechanism.
Reserve health
The gross reserve has continued to rise in recent times because of high remittance flow and currency swap initiated by the central bank.
Migrant workers sent home $2.16 billion in February, posting a 39% year-on-year jump.
February's figure was the highest in eight months since July last year.
The country recorded $2.19 billion of remittance inflow in June last year, Bangladesh Bank data showed.
On the other hand, the banking regulator mobilized more than $500 million from the banks in exchange for local currency till the end of February.
However, the currency swap is not helping raise net reserves because mobilizing foreign currency through swap deals is a liability.
But this rising burden of the ACU payment is putting pressure on the forex reserve.