The finance minister says the cause of the recent fire incident at the central bank headquarters (HQs) in Dhaka’s Motijheel was an electric short circuit.

"No important damage has been caused in the fire incident," AMA Muhith told journalists after a meeting on 'recovery of Bangladesh Bank (BB)’s reserve heist money' with the central bank officials at the finance ministry on Tuesday.

The fire originated on the 13th floor of the 32-storey BB HQs at around 9pm on March 23. Twelve firefighting teams doused the fire within an hour with no reports of casualties.

The fire gutted parts of the Foreign Exchange Policy Department.