Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has urged people not to pay any heed to rumours about a cash crisis at banks.
“Rumours of banks running out of money are being spread to try and sow panic,” she said in her televised address to the nation on Thursday.
“Do not pay attention to unsubstantiated gossip. There is no shortage of money in banks. Don’t try to court danger by keeping your earnings at home. Our investment, remittance inflow and export-import situation are normal.”
Many people have also made false claims about Bangladesh’s foreign currency reserves, according to the prime minister, reports bdnews24.com.
“A country can make do if it has reserves to meet import bills for three months,” Hasina said. “Currently, we have enough foreign currency in reserve to meet our import expenditure for five months.”
During the coronavirus pandemic, Bangladesh’s reserves swelled to $48 billion as imports of heavy equipment, foreign trips, and imports of other goods were put on hold, Hasina said.
“Instead of keeping this massive amount of money idle, we have taken some of it and used it to form a special fund,” she said. “Some important projects are being implemented through that fund.”
The state-owned Sonali Bank is also offering loans at a 2 percent interest rate. The money and interest from these loans ultimately return home, she said.
If the money was borrowed from a foreign bank, the interest rate would have been as high as 4-5 percent, Hasina said. The payment would also have to be made from foreign currency reserves.
The Ukraine-Russia war and the series of sanctions and counter-sanctions levied by Western countries in response to it has put developing and import-reliant countries such as Bangladesh in trouble, she said.
Global commodity prices have gone up and there have been disruptions to the supply chain as transport costs have increased, she said.
“Bangladesh is trying to procure the goods needed by the public from wherever we can,” she said.
Another reason for the drop in foreign exchange reserves is that the Bangladesh government buys fuel oil, cooking oil, wheat, lentils, corn and other commodities at higher prices from the world market before selling them at a subsidised rate locally, she said.
