In Bangladesh cash transactions at branches of Banks have gone down by almost half between 2019 and 2022. This is spearheaded by the central bank’s initiatives such as Bangla QR, facilitate cashless payments for small traders, while Binimoy, an interoperable digital transaction platform, will bring synergy to financial systems.
The most significant gain to achieve from the introduction of "e-Taka" is that it will allow the government to track its fiscal disbursement for development and other functional services, said adding, public officials who take advantage of stealing and accumulate physical money because it takes time for the government to identify them, but it is impossible to steal the public e-money.
With the advent of multiple emerging technologies, we are on the verge of information-driven Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR). This revolution exposes new challenges as well as exciting opportunities. Only the countries with expertise in these emerging technologies can successfully meet the challenges and exploit the opportunities.
Speakers at a conference forwarded these views on Thursday.
The webinar on “Virtual Webinar “Transforming Paper Currency to Digital: Taking from and Making of Central Bank Digital Currency” was organized by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Bangladesh(ICAB).
Dr. Salehuddin Ahmed, Former Governor, Bangladesh Bank was present as the chief guest while Md. HumayunKabir FCA, Council Member & Past President, ICAB moderated the session. ICAB President Md. Moniruzzaman FCA delivered address of welcome. Dr. Jamaluddin Ahmed FCA, Past President - ICAB, and Chairman, Emerging Credit Rating Ltd presented the keynote paper.
Distinguished panel speakers were Dr. Mohammad AbdurRazzaque, Chairman, the Research and Policy Integration for Development (RAPID); Maliha M Quadir, Founding Managing Director, Shohoj Limited; KhondokerShakhawat Ali, Visiting Fellow, BRAC Institute of Governance & Development (BIGD); and Dr. Mizanur Rahman, Consultant, Enterprise Data Integration & Ex- Director, Data Warehouse Medicare, Australia.
ICAB President Md. Moniruzzaman FCA said, central bank digital currency (CBDC) has been first rolled out in China.
The Paper Presenter - Dr. Jamaluddin Ahmed FCA said, CBDC is simply the digital form of a country's fiat currency. CBDC has the potential to transform the informal economy into a formal one by reducing its size.
