BB may issue redesigned bank notes before eid

Bangladesh Bank is likely to issue Tk 20, Tk 50 and Tk 1,000 notes with a new design next week.

The new notes, which will not include any picture or headshot of any national leaders including Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, will be available from bank branches before Eid-ul-Azha.

The new bank notes will feature not only graffiti of the July movement but also images of mosques, temples, historical landmarks and nature.

The Daily Star learned from officials of the central bank that nine types of newly designed bank notes are currently being printed at the Security Printing Corporation (Bangladesh) Limited, also known as the mint, in Gazipur.

However, the new Tk 20, Tk 50, and Tk 1,000 notes will be released into the market before Eid. The revamped Tk 500, Tk 200, Tk 100, Tk 10, Tk 5 and Tk 2 notes will be released after Eid.

About Tk 1,500 crore to Tk 2,000 crore worth of new bank notes are likely to be released into the market, said BB spokesman Arif Hussain Khan.

Not any direct picture or headshot but the very popular graffiti of Abu Sayed, Mir Mugdho, the well-known image showing a body hanging from a rickshaw, and the emotional image of a body being thrown from a police van are likely to be featured on the new bank notes, Khan said.

The Sixty Dome Mosque, Ahsan Manzil, the Royal Bengal Tiger of the Sundarbans and deer are also likely to be featured on the new bank notes.

Officials at the mint said it takes around one to one-and-a-half years to print newly designed bank notes.

The decision to redesign the bank notes was taken in December last year. Following that decision, the printing of the new notes began this month.

The BB on March 10 asked banks to halt the exchange of new bank notes featuring the image of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

No decision has yet been made regarding bank notes featuring Mujib's image.