Bangladesh Bank on Thursday asked scheduled banks to keep open all their branches today (Friday) as they were facing a severe problem to conduct their regular banking operation due to staggering blockades in the last five working days. BB officials told New Age that the central bank had taken the decision so that the banks would be able to refill cash with the automated teller machines and provide liquidity to their branches on Friday.
The clients plunged in a severe crisis to withdraw cash from the ATM booths and branches in the last week as the banks failed to refill cash in the ATM booths and the branches due to the road-rail-waterway blockade called by the opposition alliance, they said.
The BB issued a circular to managing directors and chief executive officers of all banks asking them to keep open all their branches across the country in public interest.
The BB said that transaction would stop for a while during the Jumma prayer and for lunch.
The banks have also been told to take adequate security measures.
The country’s commercial banks keep their branches closed on Fridays due to weekly holiday while they keep a few of their branches open on Saturdays.
The BNP-led 18-party alliance on November 29 called a 72-hour blockade across the country from 6am on Saturday and they later extended the agitation programme till Thursday evening.
Besides, the opposition alliance on Thursday called a fresh 72-hour blockade between Saturday and Monday of the next week
A BB official told New Age on Thursday that it was a rare incident to keep the banks’ branches open on Friday but the central bank had to take the decision as the clients faced acute liquidity shortage in the ATM booths and the branches.
The crisis would deepen more if the bank branches close on Friday as the opposition alliance called a fresh 72-hour blockade in the first three days of the next week, he said.
The BB on Tuesday requested the Dhaka Metropolitan Police commissioner to provide protection for the banks and security companies’ vehicles which handle cash transfer service.
The BB officials said that the central bank initiative had virtually failed as the police force was now busy in tackling the blockade programme.
Under the circumstances, the clients could not withdraw cash on Thursday from most of the ATM booths across the country and the branches located in the residential areas.
BB spokesperson and executive director M Mahfuzur Rahman told New Age on Thursday that the businesspeople had requested the central bank to take initiative so that the banks would keep their branches open on Friday.
-With New Age input
