BB to print 1,500m currency, banknotes

The Bangladesh Bank (BB) has set a target to produce 1,500 million pieces of currency and banknotes of different denominations in the current fiscal year (FY), up by 66 per cent from the FY 2015-16, officials said.
"The currency notes will be produced in the context of the country's growing demand throughout the current fiscal year," a high official of department concerned of the central bank told the FE on Thursday.
The security printing press -- Security Printing Corporation Bangladesh Ltd (SPCBL)-- produced 902.05 million currency and banknotes in the FY 2015-2016, according to the Bangladesh Bank (BB).
Only 271.95 million currency and banknotes were printed in the FY 1988-89, the BB data showed.
Some 11708.92 million other security products (OSPs) were printed from the press in the FY 2016-17. Some 11831.42 million OSPs would be printed in the current fiscal year, the data mentioned.
On the other hand, the demand for chequebooks and other security products is gradually increasing in the country, according to Bank and Financial Institutions Division (BFID).   The production of currency and banknotes would mark a rise year by year. The printing cost of banknotes of different denominations also increased significantly in the last couple of years because of an increase in security features and import of related costly materials, a source in SPCBL said.
The total cost of printing currency notes has increased annually due to the higher cost of paper and the larger volume of banknotes printed, he added.
Chequebooks of different state-run and private banks including BB are being printed by SPCBL, he said.
The increase in the cost also reflected that production of bank currency notes is more expensive than older banknotes as they contain more security features, he also mentioned.
Currently, the BB provided Tk 11.50 billion to the ageing printing press to buy necessary machinery for increasing its capacity.
SPCBL is likely to install four new printing machines soon for increasing its capacity for printing banknotes, chequebooks and other government's security-related printing materials. The cost of these machines is Tk 4.50 billion.
Besides, five new machines have already been installed for printing OSPs which are now running. Earlier, SPCBL was limping with three-decade-old machinery and shortage of manpower. The situation has left from the state entity.
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