Home ›› 05 Mar 2022 ›› Front
The state-owned Sonali Bank – after a SWIFT ban on transactions with Russia’s VEB bank – has sought intervention from the central bank and Economic Relations Division, to resume payment services for implementing the country’s first ever nuclear power plant project in Rooppur.
Confirming the matter to The Business Post, Sonali Bank’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Subhash Chandra Das said, “Bangladesh has been receiving funds for the country’s largest mega project from this particular Russian bank.
“To overcome this abrupt and complicated hurdle regarding payments, we have informed the Bangladesh Bank and ERD about this issue on February 28. They are working on resolving this problem.”
Russia’s Bank for Development and Foreign Economic Affairs (VEB) has ordered halting of payments for Bangladesh’s Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant project after SWIFT put sanctions on seven Russian banks.
State-run Sonali bank, on behalf of Bangladesh government, has been issuing letters of credit (LC) for the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant project.
SWIFT is a Belgium-based secure messaging platform that facilitates cross-border payments.
“The VEB recently sent a letter to the Bangladesh Bank, asking to halt transactions from March 1,” a senior official of the central bank told The Business Post.
Besides, a few other Russian banks have also asked multiple banks in Bangladesh to stop transactions with them.
Russia has been funding the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant through Sonali Bank, and also disbursing payments to Russian citizens currently working on this project.
Responding to a query, Bangladesh Bank’s Executive Director Md Serajul Islam said, “We currently have no alternatives but to wait and observe the ongoing situation.”
Meanwhile, Project Director Shawkat Akbar said, “Sanctions on Russian banks will have no impacts on the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant project. The funding does not come directly from Russia. Besides, our foreign minister is discussing the matter with his Russian counterpart.
Russian state run company Rosatom, the contractor of Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant, in a statement on March 1 said there will be no disruption in the construction of Rooppur Power Plant amid the Ukraine-Russia crisis.
The construction cost of two units – each with 1,200MW capacity – in the Rooppur project is about Tk 113,000 crore.
Of the figure, the Bangladesh government will finance Tk 22,053 crore and Russia will provide loan assistance of Tk 91,040 crore.
The power plant is scheduled to start supplying electricity by 2024.
SWIFT on 2 March added a few other financial organisations, including Belarusian banks, to its ban list in addition to the seven Russian banks it initially sanctioned.
