Md Joynal Abedin Khan
Bangladesh Bank asked all the scheduled banks to run banking activities from 9:30am to 1:30pm during a week-long strict lockdown from Wednesday.
The banks will operate the activities for four hours during the lockdown except the weekly and public holidays until issuance of further instruction, the central bank said in a circular issued on Tuesday.
The central bank issued the circular soon after issuance of a circular of the Cabinet Division.
The banks will keep open the branches till 3:00pm only for other works and formalities not for the customers, the circular said.
The central bank also withdrew the previous order to keep the banks closed during lockdown, it further said.
Earlier, Cabinet Division asked the central bank to take necessary steps to keep all the scheduled banks open in the ‘strict lockdown’, starting from 6:00 am on April 14.
Earlier on Monday, BB decided to keep all the scheduled banks closed in lockdown from April 14 to April 21.
The central bank also instructed the banks on April 12 to keep their branches closed except the Authorised Dealer (AD) branches and some departments as well as the branches and sub-branches of the banks in certain port areas to run the international trade.
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