Dhaka: Commercial banks witnessed a huge rush of clients withdrawing cash to meet their Eid expenditures ahead of the three-day Eid-ul-Azha vacation beginning on Friday. 

Over the last two days, the banks in the metropolis were packed with clients withdrawing money, especially remittances. 

Expatriates generally send a large amount of money to their relatives before Eid-ul-Azha for purchasing animals to sacrifice in the name of Almighty Allah, said an official of the Islami Bank Bangladesh Limited (IBBL).

"On Tuesday, we received US$18.13 million remittance from different countries, including the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Today, we have already received $11.90 million till 2.30pm which is likely to cross yesterday's amount at the end of the day," he added. 

On Tuesday, he said, IBBL received $5.56 million from KSA and $1.90 million from UAE. In the current month, IBBL has already received $286 million remittance from expatriate Bangladeshis, he added. 

According to the latest data of Bangladesh Bank, the country has already received $1,039.11 million remittance from expatriate Bangladeshis in the first 25 days of the month.

While visiting different bank branches in the capital today, it was found that bank officials were facing difficulties in handling large number of clients who were waiting in queues before the cash counters for transactions. 

Talking to BSS, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Mutual Trust Bank (MTB) Anis A Khan said branches were packed with customers to complete transactions ahead of Eid-ul-Azha. 

"Earlier, MTB took all sorts of measures, including reserving sufficient money, to tackle the crowd before Eid and, therefore, so we did not face any difficulties," he added. 

"There were huge transactions, especially by the individuals, in the branch over the last two days. A large number of clients queued in the cash transaction section today and over Taka 50 crore, major part of the amount is remittance, was transacted," said Abdul Baten Chowdhury, head of the principal branch of the Southeast Bank.

He said expatriate Bangladeshis are sending huge remittance ahead of Eid as the bank has received about Taka 160 crore on Wednesday from different countries specially the Middle East and Malaysia.

Cash transactions by the clients rose over the last few days and today the clients transacted about Taka 6 crore, said ABM Eradul Islam, executive vice-president and head of Motijheel Branch of Mercantile Bank Limited (MBL).

"We had preparations to tackle the heavy pressure in last few days and the transactions are likely to increase tomorrow, the last office day before the Eid," he added. 

"I have been standing in the queue for about half an hour to complete my transaction," said M Ashraf Uddin, who was to withdraw money from the South East Bank Principal branch to meet expenditures during Eid.

Similar rushes were also seen in almost all the bank branches at Motijheel and Dilkusha areas today.