Banks and capital markets will remain open during lockdown, following a separate instruction of the Cabinet Division and Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) on Tuesday.
Bangladesh Bank (BB) has asked the banks to operate on a limited scale until further notice, according to an instruction of the Cabinet Division.
Banks will remain open from 9:30am to 1:30pm to facilitate the financial transactions, said a notification of the central bank on Tuesday.
In addition, the bank authorities are allowed to conduct internal official activities until 3:00pm.
Earlier, the Cabinet Division requested the Bangladesh Bank to keep banking services open during lockdown.
The instruction came a day after the central bank issued a circular asking to keep regular banking service closed in line with the government restrictions, imposed for seven days from 14-21 April.
On Monday, the Cabinet Division issued a gazette notification to keep all government and private offices, including the financial institutions, closed during the lockdown.
Following that notification, the central bank decided to keep banking services closed during the weeklong lockdown.
On the other hand, the stock market will be trading for two and a half hours from Thursday.
Following the decision to open the bank, the capital market regulator has taken this decision.
BSEC chairman Prof Shibli Rubaiyat-ul-Islam said that trading in the stock market will continue from 10:00am to 12:30pm on Thursday in coordination with the bank.
Earlier, BSEC said the stock market will be open as long as the bank is open. Accordingly, in coordination with the bank, it has been decided to keep the transaction active from Thursday.