Bangladesh Paid $591 Million For ACU Payment

July 7, 2008 12:44 p.m. EST

Dhaka, Bangladesh (AHN) - Bangladesh made a routine payment of $591 million on Monday to the Asian Clearing Union (ACU) against imports for May-June period of this calender year, officials said.

"We remitted the fund to the ACU headquarters in Tehran on the day in line with the existing provision of the eight-member union," a senior official of the Bangladesh Bank (BB), the country's central bank, told AHN in the capital, Dhaka.

He also said the amount of payment came down to $591 million during the period from $684 million of the March-April period of this year indicating lower imports from other ACU member countries.

Under the provisions, settlement of the balance and accrued interests are made at the end of each two-month period among the member countries of ACU.

The payment pushed the country's foreign exchange reserve down to $5.60 billion on the day from $6.20 billion on the previous day, the officials confirmed.

The ACU is an arrangement between Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Iran, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka to settle payments for intra-regional transactions among the participating central banks on a multilateral basis.

The union started its operations in November 1975 to boost trade relations among the member countries. Bangladesh and Myanmar joined the union as sixth and seventh members in 1976 and 1977 respectively. However, Bhutan joined the ACU on Dec. 9, 1999.