'Don't panic, no need to withdraw more money than necessary': Cenbank

There is no reason for customers to panic about their bank deposit or make unnecessary withdrawals, said Husne Ara Shikha, spokesperson of the Bangladesh Bank.

"No bank in the world will survive if all customers withdraw their money at once. I would like to tell the customers that there is no need to panic," she said in a press briefing at the central bank headquarters today (6 November).

Urging depositors not to withdraw more money than necessary, Shikha said the central bank has a good plan to bring the banks to a good position.

"We want to restore the trust of customers. We have provided liquidity support of Tk5,585 crore to distressed banks in the last one and a half months," she added.

Asked about the loan irregularities of some industrial groups in various banks, she said, "The BFIU [Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit] has already seized many accounts.

"The central bank will investigate if money is smuggled through formal channels. But it is difficult to investigate money laundering through hundi. The BFIU is working on this issue."

The spokesperson also said the Bangladesh Bank will not appoint a receiver to any business institution on its own initiative. "If there is a court order, it will be acted upon."

She further said, "We are giving utmost importance to money laundering. But it will be through legal process, not coercion."

Regarding reconstituting boards of different banks, she said, "Our initial focus is now on Islamic banks. We have restructured the boards of 11 banks. We may start working with four more banks."

The BB spokesperson also stated that inflation is coming down after the central bank increased the policy rate.

"If this continues for the next six months, inflation is expected to come down to around 6%. It has already worked in many countries. It will work in our country too," she said.