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Published : 17 Nov 2015, 10:19 PM
The finance ministry issued a media statement on Tuesday, a day after Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith’s remarks created confusion in the financial market.
After the 'Bangladesh Coinage (Amendment) Bill-2015' was tabled for passage on Monday, Muhith told Parliament, “I should withdraw all the five-taka coins.”
The Act, eventually passed at the same session, has now empowered the government to issue notes and coins of Tk 5 denomination, like those of Tk 1 and 2.
According to the ministry statement, the amended Act has made Tk 5 notes and coins the government’s legal tender like Tk 1 and 2 notes and coins, all of which are currently in use.
The new Tk 5 notes and coins will also be in circulation along with the current ones, it added.
Banknotes of denominations between Tk 1 and Tk 1,000 are currently in use in Bangladesh.
There are both notes and coins for Tk 1, Tk 2 and Tk 5, but Tk 10, 20, 50, 100, 500 and 1,000 are only found in notes.
Until now, the government had been issuing Tk 1 and Tk 2 notes and coins, while the Bangladesh Bank released the rest.
The finance minister on Monday had questioned the central’s bank's authority to issue the Tk 5 coin.
"Bangladesh Bank is not authorised to issue this coin. They can't do this. They are only authorised to release Tk 1 coin," he had said in Parliament.
Muhith had faced harsh criticisms in January this year for saying he wanted to withdraw Tk 1 and Tk 2 notes from the market.
But a day later, he retracted the statement and said, “We can’t just withdraw currency notes that are in the market. They will cease to exist if people stop using them."
