Bangladesh Bank Governor Md. Mostaqur Rahman on Saturday said the banking sector will need Tk 60,000 crore annually from the national budget for the next five to eight years to assist the sector recover from massive “financial looting and structural damages”.

"When I took charge as Governor, one-third of the total funds in the banking system had already been stolen," the central bank governor revealed, describing the scale of capital flight and financial irregularities in the financial sector.

Governor Mostaqur Rahman made the remarks while speaking as the chief guest at a campaign event promoting Bangla QR transactions, organised by ONE Bank PLC at United International University (UIU) in the capital.

Highlighting the massive opportunity cost of this financial drain, the Governor said, "With this amount of money, the government could have supported 2.0 crore families or constructed two mega infrastructure projects like the Padma Bridge."

Severely criticizsng those responsible for the widespread systemic drain on liquidity, he emphasised that standard terminology fails to capture the gravity of the offense.

"The plundering group looted public money. Calling it simple theft would be an understatement; it was outright plundering," he said.

The Governor assured that stringent legal actions are already underway against those involved in the widespread financial irregularities and money laundering to hold perpetrators accountable and recover plundered assets.