Bangladesh’s foreign exchange reserves have dropped below the 30 billion dollar mark after the country cleared its latest dues to the Asian Clearing Union (ACU), central bank officials said on Sunday.

Bangladesh Bank (BB) confirmed that 1.37 billion dollars was paid to the ACU to settle import bills for January and February. Following the payment, the country’s gross reserves now stand at 29.38 billion dollars, according to the central bank official.

ACU settlements are made every two months as part of a regional mechanism that allows member states to offset import and export payments through their respective central banks.

The Asian Clearing Union was founded on 9 December 1974 under the initiative of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia. Headquartered in Tehran, the body was created to streamline trade payments and reduce the need for hard currency transactions among member countries.

The nine members of the ACU are Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Iran, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Through its multilateral clearing arrangement, the organisation facilitates periodic settlement of trade balances among these nations.