Md Mehedi Hasan

Bangladesh Bank has recently discovered through a probe that the joint director of its Rajshahi office, who has been serving the central bank for 12 years under the name of Md Abdul Waresh Ansary, is actually an imposter.

Despite repeated appeals from bank directors and top executives over the past month, the central bank held firm.

The interim government expects the country’s gross foreign exchange reserves to rise to $34.4 billion by the end of the fiscal year (FY) 2025–26, buoyed by strong remittance inflows, export performance, and budgetary support from development partners.

Govt asks postal department to take responsibility of the MFS provider

The central bank is likely to issue a circular in this regard today.

In what is seen as a landmark step toward restoring financial discipline, Bangladesh's interim government recently granted the central bank sweeping new powers to intervene in the troubled banking sector.

Globe Pharmaceuticals Group of Companies is set to sell its edible oil unit, Globe Edible Oil Ltd, to adjust bank liabilities.

Premier Bank paid Tk 10 crore to HBM Iqbal, the former chairman of the bank, for office space in one of his buildings that the private commercial lender did not use or rent.

State-owned, Islamic Shariah-based, and specialised banks have seen deeper deterioration in their financial positions, whereas private commercial banks and foreign banks remain on firmer ground.

Remittance inflows in the first ten months of the current fiscal year have already exceeded the total receipts of FY 2023-24

Ahsan H Mansur stated that the country's Islamic banking sector would be completely restructured as most of the existing Islamic banks are currently in trouble.

With the central bank halting direct financing by printing new notes, the government also has no option but to turn to commercial banks to meet its fiscal needs.

Interest rates on government treasury bills rose again this month, reversing a brief downward trend and signalling a continued liquidity crunch in the banking sector.

Credit demand in the private sector of Bangladesh has virtually ground to a halt, hitting its lowest level since at least 2004, indicating a distressed business and investment situation.

Steady growth in remittance inflow has helped the interim government arrest the decline in foreign currency reserves, leading many to wonder why the remitters are sending more and more money back home.

The country’s foreign exchange market is stabilising thanks to a surge in US dollar (USD) inflows, driven by higher remittances, stronger export earnings and tighter oversight by the central bank.

Of the 35 NBFIs in the country, a dozen are currently struggling to repay depositors due to an acute liquidity crisis

The Bangladesh Bank (BB) has drafted a Deposit Protection Ordinance, proposing a maximum payout of Tk 2 lakh per depositor if a bank undergoes liquidation. The limit will be reviewed every three years.

Islamic wings of conventional banks have become the preferred choice for religiously inclined depositors as many full-fledged Shariah-based banks struggle with a crisis of trust.

At the end of last year, defaulted loans in the banking sector stood at Tk 345,765 crore, with those state-run and private commercial banks holding the majority.