Bangladesh's foreign exchange reserves fell to $29.97 billion today after the Bangladesh Bank cleared $1.09 billion of import bills through the Asian Clearing Union (ACU), an arrangement for settling payments for intra-regional transactions among eight countries, said a BB official.

Forex reserves, which have been under pressure for more than a year, stood at $31.16 billion on Wednesday, riding on increased flow of remittances, according to the BB.

Under the ACU, Bangladesh clears import bills every two months and forex reserve usually falls after the payment. The BB cleared import bills amounting to $1.18 billion in May leading to a drop in overall reserves to $29.77 billion after the payment.

Bangladesh's foreign exchange reserves, a key indicator of a country's capacity to pay import bills, later rose above $31.19 billion supported by remittances and loans provided by multilateral lenders such as the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank.

India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Iran, the Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka are members of the ACU, a Tehran-based organisation.