Bangladesh Bank Governor Dr Atiur Rahman said bank notes are not only the medium of barter but also reflect the country’s heritage and culture.

He said almost every country in the world shows the portraits of their fathers of the nation on currencies as a means of showing honour and gratitude to the national leaders

Atiur was addressing a ceremony organised by Bangladesh Bank to formally release three new bank notes of Tk 10, Tk 20 and Tk 50 imprinted with the portrait of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman at the BB conference room on Wednesday.

Hours after releasing the new notes, the central bank however has withdrawn the new Tk 50 note as a spelling mistake of Shilpacharya Zainul Abedin on it was identified.

We have chosen March 7 to release these new notes considering the historic importance of the day, the BB governor said in his speech.

He also informed that metallic coins worth Tk 5 each, imprinted with the portrait of Bangabandhu, would also be circulated in the market soon.

The central bank primarily released a total of 1 million pieces of each denomination. Governor of Bangladesh Bank Dr Atiur Rahman signed the notes.

Eminent artist Mustafa Monwar, Director General of Security Printing Corporation (Bangladesh) Ltd (SPCBL) Ziauddin Ahmed and deputy governors of Bangladesh Bank, among others, also spoke on the occasion.

Following the official launching of the new notes, the BB started distributing the notes at its headquarters yesterday. The notes will be available at all branches of BB and commercial banks across the country from now on.
All the metallic coins and paper notes, running currently, will also exist in the market.

While addressing the ceremony, Mustafa Monwar said the new notes contain some special security features, making counterfeiting almost impossible.

He also viewed that the portrait of Bangabandhu is the symbol of country’s independence while agriculture still remains the base of the country’s economy.

So the portrait of Bangabandhu along with the illustration of agriculture have made an appropriate combination, he added.

The Daily Sun/Bangladesh/ 8th March 2012