The import liabilities of 9 countries under the Asian Clearing Union (ACU) have been cleared for the month of July-August. On the night of September 8, the Akur bill was reconciled with a bill of 1.36 billion dollars. After that the reserve stood below 20 billion.
According to Bangladesh Bank sources, 1.36 billion dollars were paid for two months’ import of 9 countries under Akur. After adjusting this money from the reserve, the country’s gross reserve stands at 24.54 billion dollars. And according to the international standards of Balance of Payment and International Investment Position Manual (BPM)-6, the reserve stands at 19.47 billion dollars. However, the amount of expendable reserves of the country stands at about 15 billion dollars.
On the other hand, the reserve target set by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for the month of September is 14.88 billion dollars. As a result, there is no problem with meeting the conditions of IMF’s 4.7 billion dollar loan with reserves.
Aku is a domestic transaction settlement system. Through which transactions between Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Iran, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka are settled. Akur is headquartered in Tehran, the capital of Iran.
In this system, the central bank of the respective countries pays the import amount every two months. However, due to their fragile situation, Sri Lanka does not have ACU membership.
