Tk 60,000 crore annually needed for 5-8 years to rebuild banking sector: governor

Bangladesh Bank Governor Md Mostaqur Rahman on Saturday said the banking sector would need Tk 60,000 crore annually from the national budget for the next five to eight years to help it recover from massive “financial looting and structural damage”.

“When I took charge as governor, one-third of the total funds in the banking system had already been stolen,” the central bank governor said, describing the scale of capital flight and financial irregularities in the sector.

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Mostaqur Rahman made the remarks while speaking as the chief guest at a campaign event promoting Bangla QR transactions, organised by ONE Bank PLC, at United International University (UIU) in Dhaka.

Highlighting the opportunity cost of this financial drain, the governor said, “With this amount of money, the government could have supported 2.0 crore families or constructed two mega infrastructure projects like the Padma Bridge.”

Strongly criticising those responsible for the widespread drain on liquidity, he said standard terminology failed to capture the gravity of the offence.

“The plundering group looted public money. Calling it simple theft would be an understatement; it was outright plundering,” he said.

The governor said stringent legal action was already underway against those involved in widespread financial irregularities and money laundering, with the aim of holding the perpetrators accountable and recovering the plundered assets.