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Bangladesh Bank on Monday issued a clean-note policy, first of its kind in the country, to provide citizens with high-quality clean notes while removing worn-out ones from the circulation.
It has installed three high-speed automatic note-sorting machines - two in the headquarters in Dhaka and one in its Bogura office - as the traditional destruction system is a time-consuming process, according to a circular issued on Monday.
The BB will install more machines of this kind so that all branches can sort out the old and unusable notes. The machines can process around 50,000 notes per hour, and the old or torn notes are shredded and compacted.
The circular mentioned that the central bank should circulate clean notes in the market as per the Bangladesh Bank order of 1972.
When contacted, BB spokesperson Md Mezbaul Hoq told the FE that the BB's main role in this area is to motivate the people so that they take care of the notes and mints.
He said the scheduled banks also have responsibilities in this regard. They should observe special days on how to inform the people of keeping the notes clean at different administrative levels - Upazila and district headquarters.
He further said the banks should avoid stapling or such type of activity to help extend the notes' lifetime.
Bangladesh's lower denomination notes usually change hands frequently and they become unusable quickly.
While the large denomination notes have a higher lifetime as they do not change hands frequently. Lower denomination notes are believed to be of one-year lifetime while the large denominations like Tk 500 or Tk 1000 notes have a five-year life span.
According to the policy, the central bank will take measures to print long-lasting notes by using quality inks, papers and other materials.
It said the circular issued by the Department of Currency Management earlier on May 21, 2019 will be a part of the policy.
It said the exchanges of torn or old notes should be made easy. Currently, only some banks, especially the state-owned Sonali Bank, have special booths for the exchanges. Others do not comply with the BB instructions in this regard.
The BB in its policy said that the aesthetic and clean notes represent a snapshot of a country's economic, social, and political situation.
Bangladesh Bank has been printing notes from its subsidiary Bangladesh Security Printing Corporation at Joydevpur in Gazipur since 1988. The coins that belong to the government or treasury come from abroad.