Deutsche Bundesbank : Statement concerning technical central bank cooperation with Bangladesh

The Deutsche Bundesbank has shelved a prospective cooperative venture with the Central Bank of Bangladesh regarding counterfeit prevention until further notice. This decision was triggered by press reports that Bangladesh is planning to threaten to impose the death penalty for serious cases of counterfeiting. The Bundesbank was not aware of these plans when it offered consultation and training services on counterfeit prevention as part of its technical central bank cooperation activities. The project was originally scheduled to begin in February 2013. As part of its operations, the Bundesbank has been providing consultation and advisory services for central banks around the world for decades.

While the Bundesbank believes that counterfeiting is a serious criminal offence, it considers the threat of imposing the death penalty to be excessive. Unless Bangladesh clearly and irrevocably drops these plans, the Bundesbank will terminate the consultation project before it has begun.