The country's foreign exchange (forex) reserves dipped further to $33 billion after Bangladesh Bank cleared scheduled international import bills.
The central bank paid $1.12 billion to clear import payments from member countries of the Asian Clearing Union (ACU), an arrangement to settle payments for intra-regional transactions among member countries, including Bangladesh.
Following the payment, forex reserves stood at $32.52 billion as of Monday.
The reserves have been falling steadily since the Russia-Ukraine war erupted as it sent the prices of commodities higher.
As a result, Bangladesh has to pay more to buy essentials from external sources but export earnings and remittance receipts have not gone up proportionately.
Thus, the reserves declined from $44.95 billion in early January of 2021 to $32.52 billion.
India, Bhutan, Iran, the Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka are the other members of the Tehran-headquartered ACU.
The members clear the payments every two months.
