Press Release
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
Government is stealing the Hard-Earned Savings of the People by Printing Fresh Money without Real Asset backing; Only the Khilafah States’s Bimetallic Standard (Gold and Silver) can end Capitalism’s Monetary Hegemony
Bangladesh Bank created fresh money of more than Taka 500 billion in the July-December period in the name of budget support, the highest in recent history (The Business Standard, January 03, 2023), to compensate the money looted from the banks by the Capitalists elites. The default loans of the commercial banks have already reached Taka 1253 billion. Seeing such plundering of banks, people have started to withdraw their hard-earned savings from the banks in the last several months that have worsened the liquidity crisis. Traitor Hasina promptly threatened to steal the money from the people: “Take the money and keep it at home, under the pillow under the mattress, or keep it in the cupboard. Then the money may be stolen by the thief” (BBC News, December 4, 2022). And her government expectedly has not taken any action against the bank looters, rather quickly moved to punish people by printing more fresh money. This has significantly pushed up prices and reduced people’s purchasing power, whilst people have been under severe pressure from price hike of essentials goods, electricity and gas. This is how fiat currency, which does not have any intrinsic value, has been a powerful tool of the Capitalist system that allows the government to print money without the backing of any real asset like gold and silver. In 1971, America’s Nixon government completely severed the link between gold and US dollar. To create dollar hegemony, America tied the world currencies with the dollar by bringing the Bretton Woods system to an end. Since then this fiat currency is open to government manipulation. Capitalist governments print money out of thin air with no limit on the amount of the currency being printed, causing storms of inflation.
O People! Turn your backs on the man-made Capitalist system built on limited minds and endless desires, and strive to reestablish the Islamic ruling system i.e. Khilafah Rashidah (rightly guided Caliphate) that will liberate you from the economic enslavement by the greedy Capitalists. As the fiat monetary policy does not limit the amount of money to be printed, the Capitalist government can print money whenever it deems it necessary to cover the debt of its mega expenditure and mega looting. Islam, on the other hand, has given definite and immutable rules for printing money, namely gold and silver based currency. In its bimetallic monetary policy, money is printed against gold and silver reserves. Money cannot not be printed through the mere flick of a switch on a printing press, but through the arduous process of mining and refining both gold and silver. RasulAllah ﷺ mandated the reserve of 4.25 grams of gold for 1 dinar coin and 2.975 grams of silver for 1 dirham. Since it is not possible to artificially increase the supply of the naturally occurring precious metals like gold and silver, money printing according to gold and silver standard cannot be whimsical and arbitrary. As a result, there is no such thing as monetary inflation in gold and silver based monetary system. The Khilafah will only issue currency that is backed by gold and silver, eliminating the inflation caused by the printing of fiat currency in excess of assets and commodities. Thus, the nature of bimetallic gold and silver currency imposes discipline in both expenditure and revenue collection, preventing governments from lazily issuing more currency to finance shortfalls. Indeed, it is a great shame for us to suffer silently in economic distress caused by greedy Capitalism. It is a shame to remain submissive and passive in front of sinful and incompetent rulers when our great Deen provides the solution to the problem of inflation and poverty. We must rise as one body, dusting off submission and fear, and work towards ridding ourselves of this corrupt capitalist system to re-establish the promised Khilafah on the Method of Prophethood. Allah (swt) said,
*وَمَنۡ اَعۡرَضَ عَنۡ ذِكۡرِىۡ فَاِنَّ لَـهٗ مَعِيۡشَةً ضَنۡكًا*
“But whosoever turns away from this Admonition from Me shall have a straitened life.” [Surah Taha 20:124]
Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir / Wilayah Bangladesh