Muhith to sit with BB authorities today

Finance Minister AMA Muhith is likely to talk about the Bangladesh Bank fire and heist at a Bank Division meeting today. He is likely to come up with directives to recover image of central bank after the two incidents, said official sources. The meeting will seek solutions to the present crises in the country’s central bank. There are fears that the declining image of the central bank may impact on economic indicators. High officials including home minister, central bank governor and attorney general will attend the meeting. Officials said the authorities are working to reduce weaknesses of Bangladesh Bank. Bangladesh Bank building in Motijheel, Dhaka caught fire on Thursday last. Later, the fire was brought under control by the fire-fighters. In February, 2016 the hackers stole $81m from Bangladesh Bank account with Fed Reserve in New York. Five transactions issued by hackers, worth $101m, and withdrawn from the account, were succeeded, with $20m traced to Sri Lanka and $81m to the Philippines. The Federal Reserve Bank of NY blocked the remaining thirty transactions, amounting to $850m, at the request of Bangladesh Bank.