The Bangladesh Bank has permitted banks to show their expenses related to promotion of Bangla QR in the corporate social responsibility (CSR) accounts to facilitate cashless transactions in the country.
The expenses include merchant discount rate (MDR) and interbank reimbursement fee-related charges at a rate fixed by the central bank for all payments through the QR, according to a circular issued on Thursday.
Other allowable expenses are publication and promotion of the QR, activities under cashless Bangladesh campaign and overall payments and infrastructure of the digital transactions in the cattle markets during the upcoming Eid-ul-Azha.
The expenses like transportation allowances, food and hotel bills of the bank officers under the cashless Bangladesh campaign cannot, however, be posted on the CSR accounts.
Only the banks and financial institutions that participated in the cashless Bangladesh campaign will be eligible to get the facility, said the circular.
The central bank has provided the facility as part of its plan to achieve 75% of the overall transactions cashless by 2027.
