Crisis of notes of small denomination hit daily life

ফাইল ছবি

Staff Correspondent: Bangladesh is grappling with a shortage of currency notes of small denomination causing sufferings to  daily life of the people across the country.

This is because the last interim government issued an order directing the central bank of Bangladesh not to issue the old notes that bear the image of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Bangladeshis are now complaining that they are saddled with old, unusable currency.

Bangladesh is grappling with a shortage of currency notes of small denomination specially of taka 5, 10 and 20 causing sufferings to the people.

The government of Sheikh Hasina ruled the country for over 15 years with a popular slogan of Digital Bangladesh. But the reality in Bangladesh is that transactions at post outlets like Unimart, Agora, Shwapna and  Prince  do cash transactions besides thousands of  retail outlets.    

 The shortage of currency in Bangladesh emerges from the last interim government’s decision to reprint currency, sans the image of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman . the last interim government announced that Bangladesh would be printing new notes without the image of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Instead, these new notes would feature religious structures, Bengali traditions, and graffiti drawn during the July uprising — the same protests that eventually led to Sheikh Hasina’s ouster.

At the time, many had noted that it was yet another attempt by the interim government to erase Mujibur Rahman’s legacy from the nation.

The last interim government issued a directive to the central bank not to issue the old notes with Rahman’s photo, creating a crisis in the market.

Meanwhile, Samina Naz, a housewife at Mohammadpur, said that he brings her daughter to school by rickshaw and faces a shortage of notes of small denominations while giving rickshaw fare.

Earlier, she used to visit commercial banks that would give notes of small denominations specially of taka 5, 10 and 20. Now the banks hardly give notes of notes of small denominations. So she faces problems in giving fare. 

Iftekhar Ahmed, an employee of a private firm, said  he travels to his office at Motijheel from Mirpur 1 by public buses. He faces problem in giving bus fair.    The bus conductor often gives him notes of old and torn-out notes when he gives a note of taka 100 or 50.      

Kamrul Hossian, an employee of a private firm, said he lives at Gabtali and travels to his office at Eskaton by local bus. The bus fare is taka 15. He gives taka 20 or 50 notes to the bus conductor. He often faces hassles in giving bus fare as the conductor has shortage of taka 5 coins.    

“BNP has got the majority in the last parliamentary election with over 200 seats. BNP chairperson Tarique Rahman is the new Prime Minister and he should take a new decision on the issue. The party leaders or cabinet members will not take decisions on the issue. The matter is very sensitive…….Finance Minister and Planning Minister  Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury should discuss the matter in the cabinet meeting to ease the crisis,’ said an official of a private bank. 

The printing of new notes aggravated when the corona pandemic spread across the world in 2020. The demand for printed notes declined as the disease could spread through bank notes. Bangladesh gets ink and paper supply from European countries. After the corona disease contained 2022, the supply was less than the demand. The printing of new notes takes 18 months to 24 months. So the central bank should disburse notes of 10 and 20 notes from its vault to ease the crisis.   

 Ziauddin Ahmed, former executive director of Bangladesh Bank and former managing director of Security Printing Corporation was reportedly quoted as saying, “Millions of banknotes with Bangabandhu’s picture are still lying in the vaults of various banks. The mint does not have the capacity to cancel all the notes at once and print new ones. To reduce the suffering of the people, the notes that have been printed should be released into the market.”

To add to the existing problem is the fact that these unused notes are approximately 15,000 crore taka worth of paper notes.

Speaking on the same, Kamal Hossian,  an owner of a shop said , “Earlier, we used to collect notes  of 5, 10 and 20 denominations from the bank every week. That has stopped since one year. Most of the old notes that are being received from the bank are torn. If these notes are given to the customers, they do not want to accept them.”

But that’s not it. The currency crisis is further compounded by the fact that Bangladesh’s Security Printing Corporation has printed new notes of 20, 50 and 200

denominations. The supply is very poor compare to the demand.   Ziauddin Ahmed added, “Notes with Bangabandhu’s picture cannot be cancelled suddenly. In this situation, to reduce the suffering of the people, the notes that have been printed should be released into the market. When new design notes come into the market, the old notes should be gradually withdrawn.”

But even when the printing does begin, it will take some time for the market to receive the new notes, as the mint does not have the capacity to print more than three notes at a time. According to Bangladesh Bank, there is a demand for 1.5 billion pieces of new notes of various denominations every year. However, the mint can print 1.2 billion pieces. In the 2023-24 fiscal year, the mint printed 1.05 billion pieces of new notes of various denominations, according to the newspaper reports.

 Unofficial sources said it would take five to seven years to remove all the old notes from the market after the new design notes are released.

As Bangladesh’s central bank refuses to issue the notes with Rahman’s photo to the other banks and lack of new notes, people in the markets have been left with dirty, old, and, in some cases, unusable currency.

Shafiul Alam, an employee at a private organisation, explained what’s the current situation in the market. He had made a purchase of 560 taka and had provided the store keeper with a 1,000 taka note. The seller returned two 200 taka notes and two 20 taka  notes. Two 20 taka notes are almost unusable. The shopkeeper assured him that he would change the torn notes next month if he brought them.