Bangladesh’s foreign exchange reserves have increased to $32.48 billion, officials at Bangladesh Bank said on Wednesday, December 17.
Under the International Monetary Fund’s Balance of Payments Manual, Sixth Edition (BPM6) methodology, the country’s usable reserves stand at $27.82 billion, the central bank added.
Bangladesh Bank Executive Director and spokesperson Arif Hossain Khan confirmed the development.
As of December 11, gross reserves were $32.12 billion, while BPM6-adjusted reserves stood at $27.45 billion.
The reserves had declined earlier following the settlement of import payments through the Asian Clearing Union (ACU). On November 9, after ACU payments, gross reserves fell to $31.14 billion and BPM6 reserves to $26.44 billion. Prior to that, on November 6, reserves stood at $32.71 billion, equivalent to about $28 billion under the IMF methodology.
Bangladesh Bank data show that ACU payments have been on the rise. In July 2023, Bangladesh paid $1.96 billion to the ACU against import liabilities for May–June 2022—one of the largest settlements on record. For most of 2023, bi-monthly ACU payments remained below $1.3 billion but began to increase from the September–October cycle.
In the current year, payments for the May–June period have reached nearly $2 billion, the highest level in the past three years.
The Asian Clearing Union, established on December 9, 1974, by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), facilitates multilateral settlement of regional trade payments among its nine member countries, including Bangladesh.
EAR/MHK