Close on the heels of restrictions imposed by the United States on processing payments associated with the Asian Clearing Union (ACU), which Bangladesh utilises for deferred import payments, which has emerged as a new challenge for the country, Bangladesh’s central bank, The Bangladesh Bank has initiated an inquiry with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) regarding reported restrictions imposed by the United States on payments made through the ACU.
This is as per media reports, which added this inquiry was prompted by an article in the Indian media recently, which stated that Indian financial institutions had approached the RBI after receiving communication from the US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), advising them not to process payments associated with the ACU mechanism.
Even though attempts were said to be made to seek responses from both the RBI and the ACU, no response was reportedly received on this matter.
In response to the report, a source within Bangladesh Bank’s relevant department revealed that they had sent an email to the RBI seeking confirmation on this issue.
However, as of the time of this report, no response had reportedly been received from the RBI in this regard.
The ACU serves as an arrangement facilitating the settlement of intra-regional payment transactions among the central banks of its member countries, which include India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Iran, the Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.
