The Bangladesh Bank would release new currency notes worth up to Tk 30,000 crore on the market on the eve of Eid-ul-Fitr, one of the biggest religious festivals for the Muslims.
The denominations of new currency notes would include Tk 10, Tk 20, Tk 50, Tk 100, Tk 200 and Tk 500, BB officials said.
The release of new currency notes ahead of major festivals including Eid-ul-Fitr and Eid-ul-Azha is customary in the country. This year Eid-ul-Fitr will be celebrated in the country on May 24 or May 25.
The currency notes are disbursed among people from different bank branches designated by the central bank as well as from the selective branches of the BB, the officials said.
New currency notes add a new dimension to the festivity, they said, adding that many young people liked to get new currency notes as a gift on the occasion from the elders.
BB officials, however, said that the release of new bank notes would not result in an increased money circulation and would not impact inflation.
They said that the central bank would withdraw the same amount of old currency notes from the market as it did every year.
Before Eid-ul-Fitr last year, the BB circulated new currency notes worth Tk 22,000 crore in the market.
This year, the BB has decided to release new notes worth up to Tk 30,000 crore, said a senior official of the currency management department of the BB.
He said that though there was no evidence that coronavirus spread through paper notes, the central bank had taken the initiative to remove torn and old notes from the market, he added.
Initially, the central bank will circulate new currency notes worth Tk 25,000 crore against the same amount of old notes. Later, it will issue new notes worth another Tk 5,000 crore if required.
The BB has already imported printing materials of new notes from France, Germany and the United Kingdom, according to the central bank source.
BB spokesperson Md Serajul Islam said that the central bank issued new currency notes on the market in every year ahead of Eid.
