‘Idea of pleasing oligarchs to rebound economy, must not be encouraged’
The idea that the economy cannot be put back on the right track without pleasing oligarchs should not be encouraged, National Professor, Mahbub Ullah said on Thursday.
Speaking at the opening session of the second day of the 11th Annual Banking Conference at the Bangladesh Institute of Bank Management in Mirpur, in the city eminant economist, Professor Mahbub expressed “Bangladesh has turned into an exploitative state.
Who is this exploitation for? It is not for ordinary people; it is for a small group of wealthy and influential businesspeople or millionaires whom we call oligarchs. The state itself has created these oligarchs.”
“This time, the economy has gone off track. In the future, it will not merely go off track; it may even end up in a river. We must therefore be extremely cautious about such people,” he said.
Remarking that most banks are now on the brink of collapse, Dr Ullah said public confidence in the banking sector had fallen to near zero.
He noted, however, that some good banks and honest people remained in the sector, and could serve as examples in determining what the banking sector needed to do.
The national professor described the sector’s distressed state and the prevalence of non-performing loans as symptoms of a broader systemic disease affecting Bangladesh’s administration, business, education and health system.
The economist warned that repeated mass uprisings and bloodshed had not produced meaningful social or cultural change, leaving people frustrated and impatient.
An uprising alone was not a final solution; an ideological framework, a clear national rejuvenation programme and dedicated leadership were needed, he said.
He also said there was no quick fix to the crisis, which required time and strong political will. Economic reform must be accompanied by fundamental correction of the political system and an end to the unethical nexus involving bankers, dishonest businessmen and bad politicians, he said.
Dr Ullah added that the problem of loan defaults and banking distress had initially been viewed as a know-your-customer (KYC) issue but had later developed into a dangerous nexus involving bankers, dishonest businessmen and bad politicians.
In a keynote paper, former Dhaka University economics professor Barkat-e-Khuda said the banking sector’s potential was being held back by non-performing loans, weak governance, capital shortfalls, liquidity crisis, money laundering and low productivity among bankers.
Political influence, flexible policies, repeated loan restructuring and slow private sector credit growth had fuelled abnormally high NPLs.
The session was chaired by BIBM Director General Md Ejazul Islam, with a welcome address by Professor Shah Md Ahsan Habib. The conference’s final day feature seven plenary sessions and 56 research papers.
