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Banks will remain open in limited scale from tomorrow (Sunday) to facilitate the financial transaction for their clients though the government has declared general holidays from March 29 to April 2.
As per a recent circular of the Bangladesh Bank (BB), banks will remain open from 10am to 1:30pm during the government-declared general holidays while the transaction will be made between 10am to 12 noon.
During the time, banks will keep open required number of online branches for only depositing and withdrawing cash in order to ensure smooth transaction of the people, BSS reports.
As per the circular, non-online bank branches will remain open only for cash deposit and withdrawal.
Authorised Dealer (AD) branches will only remain open for emergency foreign transactions, it added.
BB also asked banks to keep enough money at ATM booths for ensuring ATM and card transaction.
In another circular, BB asked the banks to continue the issuance of the DD or Pay orders during the general holidays.
The central bank has also taken a decision to keep open the Bangladesh Electronic Funds Transfer Network (BEFTN) system on April 1 and 2 for completing all transactions including disbursement of salaries and allowances of the government officials and employees.
Bangladesh Automated Cheque Processing System (BACPS) and Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) will remain closed during the general holidays while the National Payment Switch Bangladesh (NPSB) platform will remain open during the holidays but the settlement of the transactions will be done on the next working days.
The government has declared a nationwide 10-day holiday shutting down government and private offices excepting essential and healthcare facilities from March 26 to April 4 over the COVID-19 situation.
Among the holidays, the March 26 is a public holiday, March 27-28 the weekend, while general holiday was declared for five days from March 29 and the weekend of April 3-4 would be included into the holiday.
(FE)
