The Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU) has instructed all banks to freeze the accounts of Zunaid Ahmed Palak, former state minister for posts, telecommunications and information technology, and his wife Arifa Jesmin Konika

The internet shutdown during the recent protests, which led to the fall of the Sheikh Hasina government, was directed by Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC)

He will be in the post for the next four years

He will be the 13th governor of the central bank

Dhaka-based firms defaulted most of the amount at $558.7 million and Chattogram-based ones $29.7 million

SIBL, in which Chattogram-based S Alam Group holds a majority stake, hid Tk 7,924 crore of its defaulted loans, according to an inspection by the central bank.

Bangladesh’s credit rating will depend on maintaining political stability and the interim government committing to structural reforms, said US ratings agency Moody’s.

Several banks in Bangladesh are clinically dead but are being kept alive through bailouts, said Fahmida Khatun, executive director of the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD).

Bangladesh’s worsening economic crisis has spun off a price shock with food inflation crossing 14 percent in July for the first time in 13 years.

Gold prices inched higher on Monday on US interest rate cut optimism and brewing geopolitical tensions, while traders looked to key US inflation data due later this week for more monetary policy cues.

Around $2.3 billion in dollar and euro bills have been shipped to Russia since the United States and EU banned the export of their banknotes there in March 2022 following the invasion of Ukraine, according to customs data seen by Reuters.

Private investment as a percentage of Bangladesh’s gross domestic product (GDP) has been declining for the past three years due to low investor confidence amid global crises, a persisting US dollar crisis and high inflation.

Businesspeople want law and order to be restored fast and safety and security be ensured for the resumption of their trade soon under the new interim government led by Nobel laureate Prof Muhammad Yunus.

The interim government has formed a three-member search committee to find appropriate candidates for deputy governors of Bangladesh Bank (BB).

The stock market was ruined over the last 14 years during Prof M Khairul Hossain and Prof Shibli Rubayat-ul Islam’s tenures at the helm of the securities regulator as they engaged in unprofessional and illegal activities, according to the DSE Brokers Association of Bangladesh (DBA).

It is the highest in at least a decade

The DSEX declined 1.39% before closing the day at 5,932.28 points

Instruction has also been given to find if there is any bank account in the names of other members of the former minister

The Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit made the call

Mohammad Muslim Chowdhury, former comptroller and auditor general, will lead the panel