Home ›› 27 May 2022 ›› Front
The Bangladesh government is considering granting amnesty to anyone who brings back laundered money from abroad, Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal said on Tuesday.
Addressing a virtual press brief after two separate meetings of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs and Cabinet Committee on Public Purchase, Kamal added that efforts are ongoing to bring the money – laundered using different channels over the years – back home.
The Bangladesh Bank will make more announcements in this regard before the national budget is placed in Parliament, the minister said. He, however, declined to provide any more details on the matter until the budget for FY23 is placed.
Mentioning that different countries are declaring amnesty such as tax exemption, Kamal said, “We are also thinking about it.”
He then said, “Different countries across the globe, Indonesia for example, had offered various incentives to bring back home the siphoned off money. Those who have laundered money abroad could avail such opportunities, and send the money back to Bangladesh.
“The Bangladesh government is taking this initiative mainly to bring back the money that was laundered from the country.” The finance minister, however, did not provide any details regarding how much money has been laundered abroad till date.
Kamal’s remarks came in response to a question on the government’s latest initiative, as the Bangladesh Bank recently announced that anyone will be allowed to bring in up to $5,000 from abroad without any prior declaration, and no questions will be asked about the money’s source.
The central bank announcement was aimed at encouraging people to bring more US dollars against the backdrop of Bangladesh’s declining foreign exchange reserves.
Recently, the greenback gained strength against the local currency, as the USD rate went up to Tk 100 in the kerb market, while the Bangladesh Taka (BDT) was officially depreciated on a number of occasions.
Regarding the global trend of inflation, Kamal said the situation in countries such as India, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam are almost the same, inflation in the USA is the highest in 40 years, while the UK has also been experiencing its highest inflation.
He said “It is true that the local market is suffering a crisis of US dollars, but it is not too much. The current level of foreign exchange is enough for us, and we are in a better position compared to many of our neighboring countries.”
Mentioning that Bangladesh had witnessed a similar crisis of USD back in 2001, the finance minister said the central bank usually raises the LC margin on luxury items, while the government often imposes regulatory duty to tackle such situations.
In response to a question regarding the possible increase of power and gas tariffs, he said the government also understands that when the power and gas tariffs go up, it impacts the people.
“We want the possible impact of such a rise in power and gas tariffs to remain at a tolerable level.”
Regarding the upcoming budget for FY 2022-23, he said all stakeholders have been taken into consideration while framing the budget for the next fiscal year. “We are prioritising issues connected with the welfare of the marginalised, and they will benefit from the next budget.”
According to Global Financial Integrity (GFI) – a Washington-based think tank – $5.9 billion was siphoned out of Bangladesh in 2015, and the illegal capital flight from Bangladesh was $67.53 billion between 2005 and 2015.
Meanwhile, according to the Swiss National Bank, deposits of Bangladeshi individuals and enterprises in Swiss banks amounted to 562.9 million CHF (Swiss franc) in 2020.
The figure was 603 million CHF in 2019, 617.7 million in 2018, 481.3 million in 2017, 662 million in 2016 and 550.9 million in 2015.
