bdnews24.com :
Banks have had to cope with a massive client pressure on Thursday, the last working day before the start of the Eid and Puja holidays.
In capital Dhaka, people queued up before bank counters to withdraw and deposit cash.
Several bank branches functioned well beyond their normal 10am to 4pm working hours to cope with the extraordinary rush.
To meet the withdrawal demands some banks had to fall back on interbank loans or call money, resulting in a hike in the call money interest rates.
Bangladesh Bank data revealed that the highest call money interest rate on Thursday was 9.50 percent and the minimum 6 percent. The highest rate on Wednesday was 9.25 percent.
The total call money transaction on Thursday amounted to Tk 80.09 billion. The sum transacted on Wednesday was Tk 81.84 billion.
On Sunday, the first day of the week, the highest rate in the call money market was 8.25 percent, with total transactions amounting to Tk 83.65 billion.
Long queues were seen in most banks in Motijheel and Dilkusha areas, and cashiers took turns to handle the rush.
Mahbubur Rahman, an official of a local unit of the Agrani Bank told bdnews24.com: “There has been enormous rush right through the week. As a result, transactions had to be allowed beyond the official working hours.”
He said many clients were withdrawing more than usual sums of money because of the upcoming holidays.
As a result, the banks had to shell out huge sums and the total transactions were three to four times more than the usual.
Bangladesh Bank had kept new notes worth Tk 245 billion ready in anticipation of demand.
Currency officer of the central bank Joardar Israel Hossain said the Bangladesh Bank and the commercial banks together had released Tk 161 billion worth of new and re-issued currency notes until Thursday.
