Foreign exchange reserves in Bangladesh have slipped below $40 billion for the first time since September 2020, as the Bangladesh Bank cleared import payments to the Asian Clearing Union (ACU).
The country settled import payments worth $1.99 billion with the ACU last week, causing the forex reserves to stand at $39.80 billion on Tuesday.
Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Iran, the Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka are members of ACU. The central banks of these countries have to make the payments every two months.
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The reserves have been under stress for the past couple of months due to surge in the import bills and drop in the inward remittance, reports UNB.
Bangladesh’s foreign exchange reserves soared to record amount of $46.15 billion in December last year.
Bangladesh’s forex reserves witnessed a fall as import volume in the fiscal year 2021-22 increased to about $78 billion, while foreign exchange gained from remittance and export stood at $73 billion. The export earnings in FY22 amounted to 52.08 billion and inward remittances $21.03 billion.
The inward remittance shows a fall in the FY22 to $21.03 billion from $24.77 billion in the FY21.
Md Serajul Islam, executive director and spokesperson of BB, told UNB that the central bank is selling US dollar to meet huge import payments every day.
He said fall in inward remittance and rising demand of imports are the reasons for the decline in the foreign exchange reserves.
