Bangladesh's Reserves Dip to $34.85 Billion After a Twice Monthly Regional Bill Comes Due

Bangladesh's gross foreign exchange reserves fell to $34.85 billion on November 5, down from $36.38 billion a day earlier, after the central bank paid out $1.64 billion to settle regional import bills through the Asian Clearing Union. It is the kind of drop that looks alarming on a single day's ticker but is, in large part, simply the calendar catching up with the country's trade bill.

• Reserves fell $1.53 billion in a single day after Bangladesh Bank settled its latest Asian Clearing Union bill.
• The ACU settles trade among nine regional members every two months, so this kind of dip recurs on a predictable cycle.
• The drop followed a separate $100 million dollar sale by Bangladesh Bank on November 4 to keep the taka from weakening further.
• Reserves are still far above the $25.92 billion low recorded before the 2024 change in central bank leadership, but well off the $37.41 billion seen as recently as September 1.

What just happened

Bangladesh Bank data released this week showed gross reserves at $34.85 billion, a one day fall of roughly $1.5 billion to $1.64 billion depending on which measure is used. The proximate cause was a payment through the Asian Clearing Union, the Tehran based settlement system that nets out trade balances among Bangladesh, India, Bhutan, Iran, the Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Bangladesh is a net importer within the bloc, so it typically owes money at each settlement, and that bill came due this week.

What the ACU actually is, and why it bites every two months

Rather than settling every individual shipment in dollars, member countries let their mutual trade balances build up for two months and then clear the net difference in one transfer. For Bangladesh, which buys far more from India and other members than it sells to them, that means a recurring outflow rather than a one off shock. Anyone who has watched the reserve headline swing sharply in a single day has likely been looking at an ACU settlement date rather than a sudden crisis. The pattern is routine enough that analysts increasingly discount the one day move and watch the trend across settlements instead.

The reserve rollercoaster of 2026

Reserves touched $37.41 billion on September 1, a post 2024 high, before easing through October and into November as Bangladesh Bank both defended the taka and paid down its regional trade bills. That is still a vastly healthier position than the $25.92 billion trough reached before Governor Ahsan H Mansur took over in August 2024 and ended the previous policy of selling down reserves to prop up the currency. The governor has kept that no panic selling stance, even as this week's numbers show reserves are not a one way climb either.

Why Bangladesh Bank is selling dollars at the same time

The ACU payment landed just a day after Bangladesh Bank sold $100 million through an auction specifically to ease pressure on the taka, which has been drifting toward Tk124 against the dollar as import costs, particularly for fuel, keep demand for dollars elevated. That intervention and the ACU bill are not the same thing, but they pull in the same direction: both draw down the reserve buffer even as the central bank insists its underlying strategy has not changed. For importers and anyone converting currency, the practical effect is the same tighter dollar supply and a central bank still willing to spend reserves to keep the exchange rate from lurching.

What it means for you

For most households, a reserve dip driven by a scheduled regional payment is not something to panic over, it is closer to a routine bill than a balance of payments crisis. But it matters if you are importing goods, sending a child abroad for education, or planning a trip, because it sits alongside a taka that is still under gentle depreciation pressure. If you regularly convert taka to dollars or other currencies, it is worth checking current rates before a big transaction rather than assuming today's rate will hold; the site's currency converter is a quick way to see where things stand. Exporters and importers watching letters of credit should expect the ACU cycle to keep repeating every two months regardless of what else is happening in the economy.

What comes next

The next ACU settlement is roughly two months away, and Bangladesh Bank has given no indication it will change its intervention approach before then. The bigger variable is the taka itself: if depreciation pressure eases, the central bank will likely sell fewer dollars and the reserve trend could stabilise closer to its September high. If the currency keeps drifting weaker, expect more of the same, a reserve line that falls in steps, recovers a little with remittance inflows, and falls again on the next ACU date.