Dhaka, March 10 -- Bangladesh's gross foreign exchange (forex) reserves have dropped below $20 billion as the central bank paid $1.29 billion to the Asian Clearing Union (ACU) against import bills, sources at Bangladesh Bank (BB) said.

With clearing the ACU payment, the country's gross stock of forex declined to $19.99 billion as of March 7, 2024, as per the IMF-prescribed BPM6, from $21.15 billion recorded on the previous day.

In terms of BB arithmetic, the gross volume of forex reserves fell to $25.18 billion until Thursday, from $26.40 billion calculated on March 6, 2024.

Seeking anonymity, a BB official confirmed the payment of the import bills through the ACU mechanism, saying that the country, as a member of the trading platform,...