Bangladesh Bank has settled the import payments for March and April under the Asian Clearing Union (ACU), resulting in a fresh decline in the country’s foreign exchange reserves, which have once again fallen below the $34 billion mark.

On Thursday, the central bank paid $1.51 billion (equivalent to $151 crore) to the ACU for import bills, according to Bangladesh Bank Executive Director and spokesperson Arif Hossain Khan.

Typically, such payments are made every two months among member countries of the regional payment arrangement.

According to the latest available data, Bangladesh’s gross foreign exchange reserves stood at $35.34 billion as of Wednesday (May 6). Under the IMF’s BPM-6 accounting method, reserves were recorded at $30.67 billion.

Following the ACU payment, the reserves have dropped significantly. Estimates suggest that gross reserves have fallen to around $33.80 billion, while BPM-6 reserves have declined to approximately $29.12 billion.

The central bank did not immediately disclose the updated reserve figures after the payment.

Bangladesh Bank also maintains a separate measure of usable reserves, known as Net International Reserves (NIR), which is not regularly published. Officials indicated that NIR currently stands at around $27 billion.

At the current level, reserves are estimated to be sufficient to cover about five months of import payments, assuming average monthly import costs of around $5.5 billion. Economists generally consider three months of import cover as the minimum safe threshold.

Foreign exchange reserves are widely viewed as a key indicator of a country’s external economic stability.

The Asian Clearing Union (ACU) is a regional payment arrangement that facilitates settlement of trade-related transactions among member countries, including Bangladesh, India, Iran, Nepal, Pakistan, and others. The ACU headquarters is located in Tehran, Iran. Member central banks settle import payments every two months through this system.