Transaction hours at banks and the capital market have been shortened for the month of Ramadan, with banking services reduced by one hour and stock market trading by 30 minutes.
In a recent notification, Bangladesh Bank said banking transactions will begin at 9:30am instead of 10:00am during Ramadan and continue until 2:30pm. Under the regular schedule, transactions usually run until 4:00pm.
There will be a prayer break from 1:15pm to 1:30pm. The central bank instructed banks to ensure that transactions continue during this interval through internal coordination so that customer services remain uninterrupted.
Although customer transactions will end at 2:30pm, banks will remain open for official work until 4:00pm. Both transaction and office hours will return to normal after Ramadan and Eid.
The Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) said trading during Ramadan will continue to start at 10:00am but will close at 1:40pm, followed by a 10 minute post-closing session.
Official activities at the DSE will run from 9:00am to 3:30pm. The bourse will revert to its previous schedule after Ramadan and the Eid-ul-Fitr holidays. Under the normal timetable, trading runs from 10:00am to 2:30pm and office hours from 9:00am to 4:30pm.
From the start of Ramadan this year, government, semi-government, autonomous and semi-autonomous offices will operate from 9:00am to 3:30pm, compared with the usual 9:00am to 5:00pm schedule.
Ramadan began on February 19 this year.
