Bangladesh Bank has announced new policies to conduct settlement of import and export transactions through countertrade arrangements.

Countertrade is a reciprocal form of international trade in which goods or services are exchanged for other goods or services rather than for hard currency.

In this way, goods can be imported and exported in exchange for goods without foreign currency. That is, by importing goods worth USD $100 dollars from a company abroad, they can export another product of the same value to that company without paying money. These transactions will not require foreign exchange or dollars.

The foreign exchange policy department of BB issued a circular in this regard on Sunday and sent it to the top management of all the scheduled banks for immediate execution.

According to the new policy, the price of goods imported into Bangladesh can be adjusted with the price of goods exported from Bangladesh through the countertrade system.

In this case, exporters, importers, or traders of this country can enter into an agreement with foreign organizations to conduct import-export activities in countertrade mode.

The local bank will manage the escrow account in the country in the name of the foreign institution or jointly with the Bangladeshi party, in which the import price received from the local importer will be deposited.

The value of the goods exported from this country will be paid to the local exporter against the status of deposit, the circular stated.

The status of the escrow account will be regularly communicated with foreign institutions to coordinate with them at specific times. It is stated in the policy that if the Bangladeshi party wants to operate an escrow account in a foreign bank like a foreign party, permission from Bangladesh Bank should be obtained.