Govt set to release Tk1,000, Tk50, Tk20 notes with new designs before Eid

Bangladesh Bank Governor Ahsan H Mansur has announced that new Tk1,000, Tk50 and Tk20 banknotes will be released into circulation before Eid-ul-Adha.

The notes will not feature any human portraits but will instead showcase natural landscapes and traditional landmarks of Bangladesh, he said while talking to journalists after an event held at the PKSF building in Dhaka today (24 May).

The new bank notes that the government will release ahead of Eid-ul-Adha will have images of mosques, temples, historical landmarks and natural sceneries printed on them, while these notes will not have images of any person, according to Mansur.

"Three new notes will be introduced to the market soon- Tk1,000, Tk50 and Tk20. People will get to see these new notes ahead of Eid-ul-Adha. These notes will not have images of any person printed on them," the governor said.

Ahsan added, "These notes will have some of our natural sceneries and some historical monuments printed on them."

Asked about what types of monuments will be on these notes, the BB governor said, "Some historically significant monuments will be printed on these notes, be it a mosque or a temple. We are not differentiating on this matter."

Earlier, on 21 May, Bangladesh Bank Executive Director Arif Hossain Khan said the designs of the new notes had already been finalised.

"No note will feature a full human portrait. Instead, the new notes will reflect themes such as the July uprising martyrs, youth, the Sundarbans, and various elements of Bangladesh's heritage and culture," he said.

According to media reports, the new Tk20 note will feature images of the Kantaji Temple and Buddhist temples. The Tk50 note will include Shilpacharya Zainul Abedin's famine painting and the Atia Mosque. The Tk1,000 note will depict the Bangabhaban and the National Martyrs' Memorial.

The notes with new designs will be released in phases.

Historically, Bangladesh introduced its own paper currency on 4 March 1972, following independence.

The first note, featuring a map, was a Tk1 denomination. In 1973, Bangladesh issued Tk5, Tk10, and Tk100 notes.

Subsequently, Tk50 and Tk500 notes were introduced in 1976. The Tk20 note was issued in 1979, and the Tk2 note was launched in 1988. On 17 July 2009, the highest denomination banknote, the Tk1,000, was introduced.

The most recent addition was the Tk200 note in 2020.