The recommendation was made at a two-day technical committee meeting of ACU members that ended in Dhaka yesterday.

The technical committee in a set of recommendations also said the guideline should outline measures to act promptly to any queries by the counter parties in ACU countries and issue ACU dollar account statements as and when a transaction occurs and on a monthly basis.

The committee said member central banks may also ask the commercial banks to pay minimum rate of interest at 2 per cent per annum on the balances ACU dollar accounts.

It also said member central banks may consider establishing a foreign currency clearing system within their territory, enabling the banks to settle their mutual claims arising from inter-bank transaction. This foreign currency clearing mechanism will also enable intra-day final transfer capabilities to settle obligations related to cross-border transactions such as ACU.

It recommended the unilateral change in LC terms and conditions should be avoided as far as possible if such actions affect ACU payment mechanism.

Regarding the use of euro as a freely usable currency, the committee said it can be worked out in future when most of the members would prefer to use more than one currency in the ACU transaction.

The committee said the current chairman of ACU, the Nepal Rastra Bank, in consultation with the ACU secretariat, may identify potential new members in the ACU family.

It said the ACU secretariat may write to the ESCAP (Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific) to explore the possibility of extending membership beyond the ESCAP region and follow up the issue during ESCAP meetings in Thailand.

Member countries may explore the possibility of doing away with the procedural requirements related with foreign exchange transaction at their end considering the underlying commercial urgency, the committee added.

The committee was also in favour of strictly following the standard international best practices and ICC rules.