Tk 60,000 Crore Bank Rescue: Governor Says Public Money Must Repair Looted Banks

A Tk 60,000 crore bank rescue is now on the table in Dhaka. Bangladesh Bank Governor Md Mostaqur Rahman proposed it on Saturday, 10 October 2026. The Daily Star reported his remarks.

He wants the national budget to provide Tk 60,000 crore every year. The support would run for five to eight years.

What the Tk 60,000 crore bank rescue would cost

The arithmetic is large. Over five years the total reaches Tk 3 lakh crore. Over eight years it reaches Tk 4.8 lakh crore.

The governor spoke at the launch of Bangla QR with ONE Bank at United International University. He said defaulted loans in the banking sector now total Tk 6.06 lakh crore. He said roughly one-third of the money in the system had been looted when he took charge in February 2026.

Rahman framed the bill as a duty. “The money that was siphoned out of the banks belongs to the public,” he said. He promised that “every depositor will get their money back.”

The comparison he offered

Rahman put the sum in perspective. About 2 crore of Bangladesh’s 4 crore families need state support, he said. The same Tk 60,000 crore could pay a Tk 2,500 monthly subsidy to all of them. It could also fund two Padma Bridge-sized projects each year.

That is a sobering trade-off. Taxpayers who never touched the loans may carry the cost.

Digital payments as a partial offset

The governor also pitched digital payments as a way to claw back revenue. He said printing and moving cash costs about Tk 20,000 crore a year. Bangla QR could cut that by at least half at first.

He argued that a nationwide shift could lift government revenue by up to Tk 2 lakh crore by reducing tax and VAT leakage. These are his projections, not audited results. Person-to-person QR transfers are due from November.

Withdrawal limits at Sommilito Islami Bank and National Bank have been eased, the report said, though at high cost.

The proposal will need parliamentary and budgetary approval. Readers can compare it with our earlier look at the World Bank’s growth forecast for Bangladesh, which shows how little fiscal room exists.

Fact basis: The Daily Star, ‘Tk 60,000cr of taxpayers’ money needed annually for up to 8yrs: BB’ (11 October 2026). Figures and projections are the governor’s statements.