There is a severe shortage of new banknotes of all denominations in the market.
In contrast, the market is currently flooded with torn, damaged, punctured, and dirty unusable notes.
Although Bangladesh Bank releases new notes somewhat regularly, supply remains far short of demand.
Added to this is a shortage of low-denomination notes. Bank customers, shopkeepers, and shoppers in the market are feeling the lack of Tk100, Tk20, and Tk10 notes the most in daily transactions.
The situation has reached a point where customers often fail to get change even after withdrawing money from banks. The ordeal is worse at ATM booths.
Even when withdrawing Tk20,000, there is no guarantee of getting Tk500 notes.
In some booths, nineteen Tk1,000 notes are disbursed alongside two Tk500 notes.
As a result, despite having cash in hand, people have to run from store to store just to get change.
Meanwhile, a major portion of the banknotes circulating in the market is old, torn, punctured, and dirty.
Even Tk500 and Tk1,000 notes frequently show large staple punctures, Scotch tape repairs, torn edges, and dirt. Many shopkeepers refuse to accept these notes.
Ticket vending machines at metro rail stations or Cash Recycling Machines (CRMs) at banks often reject old and damaged notes as well.
Consequently, money received in one hand creates new trouble when trying to spend it with the other.
Recently, while attempting to deposit Tk50,000 at a Dutch-Bangla Bank CRM in Moghbazar, Md Ali Ahmed had 15 notes rejected.
He said he had just withdrawn the cash from a neighboring bank, yet the machine would not take it—even though he urgently needed to send money home that very day for his father’s medical treatment.
It is not just general customers; merchants report the same issue. In their words, without Tk100, Tk20, and Tk10 notes on hand, returning change for small purchases becomes extremely difficult.
Even banks often fail to supply low-denomination notes as requested. As a result, procuring change has become a separate task altogether for shopkeepers.
High printing costs
Amidst this, Bangladesh Bank data shows that money printing costs have hit a record high.
In FY26, Tk458.92 crore was spent on printing new currency, compared to Tk234.78 crore in the previous fiscal.
In just one year, printing expenses rose by Tk224 crore, or 95.46%. This marks the highest expenditure in the last five fiscal years.
In FY21, banknote printing cost roughly Tk340 crore, which dropped to Tk235 crore in FY25 before surging to nearly Tk459 crore a year later.
Sources at Bangladesh Bank stated that after August 5, 2024, the printing and release of old-design banknotes bearing the image of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman were halted.
Delays in the design, approval, and printing process of new note series led to a supply deficit of fresh notes in the market.
Arief Hossain Khan, executive director and spokesperson of Bangladesh Bank, noted that new Tk10, Tk500, and Tk1,000 taka notes have been released into the market. However, there is a supply shortage of raw materials for Tk20 and Tk50 notes, alongside rising printing costs overall.
He believes introducing digital transactions everywhere could serve as an effective solution, which is why the use of "Bangla QR" is being actively promoted. Expanding its reach would quickly reduce the demand for and usage of physical cash.
However, the reality remains that daily shopping and small transactions in the country are still heavily reliant on cash.
Victims of this situation believe that unless the supply of both fresh, quality banknotes and low-denomination currency normalize together, public suffering will not subside.
According to Bangladesh Bank, nearly all essential materials for printing notes—including security paper, specialized ink, security threads, and various chemicals—must be imported from abroad.
Even after raw materials arrive in the country, the printing process at the Security Printing Corporation (Bangladesh) takes nearly three months.
Due to limited capacity, the mint cannot print notes in required volumes all at once.
Furthermore, rising costs of raw materials, shipping, and the US dollar following the Russia-Ukraine war have pushed these expenses even higher.