After paying off the ACU bills of $293 million on Thursday, the reserve came down as low as equal to two-and-a-half-month's import expenditure. The reserve equal to three months' import cost is considered safe internationally.

A source at the Bangladesh Bank said the price hike of fuel in the global market and a sharp rise in import have created this pressure on the country's reserve.

The central bank sold around $700 million to the nationalised commercial banks to pay off the import cost of fuel from January to the first week of September.

The source however said the recent price spike in the local market would not help lift the pressure off the reserve. What is necessary in this regard is bringing down the consumption of petroleum, the source added.

Although the central bank has to usually pay around $200 million as ACU bills every two months, the huge rise in import in recent times has forced it to pay more. The BB paid around $300 million in September and it had to pay around $ 350 million in July.

Imports saw a sharp rise by 21 percent last year, while the rise was only 13 percent the previous year. The government and the central bank have taken a number of initiatives to ease the pressure on the reserve, the source said.