Bangladesh Bank in hands of inept people cannot deliver
That the serving governor of Bangladesh Bank, Abdur Rauf Talukdar, has been placed at the grade ‘D’ as a governor by the Global Finance Magazine based in New York tells all about why Bangladesh’s whole banking system is in tatters.
His predecessor Fazal Kabir’s grade was ‘B’ in 2017.
Then in 2018 and 2019 he was downgraded to ‘D’ grade category, but got ‘C’ grade for 2020 and 2021.
It has also surfaced in the report of this magazine that the uncalled for political influence on the central bank’s decisions has turned its inner working atmosphere messy.
In comparison, the Governor of the central bank of Sri Lanka, Nandalal Weerasinghe, performed far better and is placed in the A- (A minus) grade.
He led Sri Lanka out of bankruptcy and hyperinflation.
The governor of India’s Central Bank got an A+ grade for achieving success on all indicators, including inflation control.
Since 1994, Global Finance Magazine has been grading the governors of different countries of the world.
Its Central Banker Report Card is published regularly as an annual publication of the periodical.
The latest report for 2023 is published based on the assessment of central bank governors of 101 key countries.
The report rates central bank governors across countries in five categories – A, B, C, D and F.
And if a country’s central bank is considered ineffective and ultimately failing, its governor is ranked under the F grade.
While the Bangladesh Bank governor runs the risk of making his organisation a failed entity, Nepal’s central bank governor has got ‘B minus’ grade, and Pakistan’s governor has received a ‘C minus’, better than Bangladesh Bank governor.
The Global Finance magazine has produced the report card, analysing factors such as tight inflation control, protection of the local currency exchange rate and consolidating foreign exchange reserves emerged as criteria for evaluating governors.
Not surprisingly, Bangladesh has deteriorated in these indicators in the last one year.
Under the watch of the present governor of Bangladesh, the country’s banking system has been suffering an unprecedented trust deficit of depositors.
The people of Bangladesh, however, cannot hope that under the current government, the central bank will be able to put the banking system in order.
With the present structural weakness of the Bangladesh economy and 60 per cent control of the central bank by the government, Bangladesh falls into the ongoing fragile position in the face of external shocks like inflation.
