Bangladesh has paid 1.67 billion dollars for November and December bills of imported goods through the Asian Clearing Union (ACU). As a result, the total foreign exchange reserves have stood at $24.90 billion. And the BPM-6 has come down to $20 billion. However, last week the reserves were above 21.67 billion as BPM.

On Thursday (January 9), Bangladesh Bank’s Executive Director and Spokesperson Husne Ara Shikha told the media that Akur’s debt was paid and adjusted today. Currently, the country’s reserves are $24.90 billion and $20 billion as BPM-6.

Recently, foreign grants have been added to the reserves. At the same time, remittance flows have increased. Due to these reasons, the country’s foreign exchange reserves have increased. As of yesterday, Wednesday, the reserves were 21.67 billion as per BPM-6 calculation and 26.57 billion as per Bangladesh Bank’s own calculation method.

Earlier, on November 11, Bangladesh paid 1.50 billion dollars through the Asian Clearing Union (ACU) for the bill of September and October of imported goods. As a result, the reserves decreased to $18.45 billion (BPM-6). This accumulation of foreign currency increased in the last one month and now reached 21 billion dollars last week.

However, there is another reserve account of Bangladesh Bank besides BPM-6 and own account. That is, expendable reserves. Where the usable reserves are calculated by excluding the dollars in the IMF’s SDR sector, foreign currency held by banks as foreign exchange clearing, and ACU bills. This information is only given to the IMF by the Central Bank. Accordingly, the country’s actual expendable reserves are $15 billion. With this reserve of $5 billion per month, three months’ import liabilities can be met.

The first of the three accounts of the Bangladesh Bank Reserve is the total reserve including the various funds formed in foreign currency. The total reserves include several funds, including a soft loan for entrepreneurs in the ready-made garment industry. The second is the International Monetary Fund (IMF) accounting method, i.e. a fund formed in foreign currency or excluding loan money. Outside of this, the account is usable reserves.

During the previous Awami League government, the foreign exchange reserves of the country fell below 19 billion dollars twice. At that time, the reserves were increased through foreign loans and purchase of dollars from various commercial banks. During the current government, the sale of dollars from the reserves of Bangladesh Bank has been stopped. Again, dollars are being added from various sources constantly. As a result, the reserves are gradually increasing.