The United States of America has asked Sonali Bank, the State run bank of Bangladesh, to close its accountswith two banks of Myanmar as the countryis  facing sanctions, said a recent report in Dhaka Tribune.

In June, sanctions were imposed on Myanmar Foreign Trade Bank (MFTB) and  Myanmar Investment &Commercial Bank (MICB) by the US governmentfor the human rights violations committed by the junta forces on its own citizens.

The US embassy in Dhaka informed the Bangladesh foreign ministry about the development and asked it to close the accounts in Myanmar banks.

On  August, the Bangla foreign ministry forwarded theletter to the Sonali Bankmanagement and advised necessary actions in this regard.

Mentionable is that most of the payments for bilateral tradebetween the two neighbouringnations (Bangladesh and Myanmar) are usually madem through the Sonali Bank accounts.

The situation has put Sonali Bank in a difficult position asit has USD 17,000 in deposits withthe MFTB and USD 200,000 with the MICB.

On the other hand, the MFTB has USD 100,000 and the otherone has USD 1 million in SonaliBank.

The concerned Sonali Bank officials informed that the moneyis now frozen meaning they cannotwithdraw or transfer the amounts.

It’s chief executive officer cum managing director AfzalKarim told Dhaka Tribune that no transaction is  being made through these accounts.

He confirmed that the banks were also unableto withdraw their depositsfrom each other. A directive in this regard has been sought from the Bangladesh bank, but thecentral bank has not issued any
order yet, he added.

Bangladesh currently imports various items like timber, ginger, onion, betel nut, frozen fish, woolen broom,coconut, pickle, dried fruit, cane,tamarind seed, pulse, chickpea from Myanmar under the border trade agreement between the twocountries.

On the other hand, Bangladesh exports potatoes, biscuits, hosieries, plastic products etc to Myanmar.

According to data from the export promotion bureau (EPB), Bangladesh exported merchandise worth nearly USD3.9 million to Myanmar in 2021-22.

On the other hand, in 2020-21 year, Bangladeshi businessmenimported products worth Tk1,409 crore (equivalent to about USD 130 million) from Myanmar.