Mamun Rashid

As Bangladesh concluded 2023, it faced a series of macroeconomic challenges, including soaring inflation, dwindling foreign currency reserves, a weakened taka against the US dollar, slowing exports, lower-than-expected remittance inflows, and a troubled banking sector.

The most recent bank merger proposal in Bangladesh reflects a pressing need for action due to Bangladesh Bank's determination to instill essential discipline and oversight in the financial sector, which is plagued by widespread irregularities.

The establishment of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) in India was critically acclaimed as a success story since it led to impressive changes in the Indian banking system and set a standard for debt recovery, credit culture, and the entire financial system.

Just a few days ago, we celebrated the 89th birthday of our country’s noted economist and public policy champion Professor Rehman Sobhan. Prof Sobhan is better known as one of the authors of the two-nation theory, which ultimately helped us form the philosophical base of an independent Banglades

All stakeholders, including the citizenry, have for years been warning about the deteriorating health of Bangladesh's banking sector. Hard data such as those on the prevalence of default loans have also been indicating the same. .A recent Bangladesh Bank report is the latest to reaffirm

All of our important stakeholders, including those in the government, are now talking about reforms. I was very intrigued when the state minister for ICT on the second day of his joining the new cabinet asked me who could our Nandan Nilekani be?

Bangladesh stands at a critical juncture in its developmental journey, with infrastructure development being a cornerstone of its economic growth agenda.

Banking, the lifeblood of any economy, faces unique challenges in Bangladesh. A high percentage of non-performing loans (NPLS), inadequate capital, and an overreliance on bank financing are just a few of the many obstacles impeding advancement.

Bangladesh Bank has announced a new plan to reduce non-performing loans (NPL) to less than 8 percent by June 2026. The central bank aims to bring down the NPL of state-owned commercial banks to 10 percent and private banks below 5 percent. As we know, many such initiatives have been introduced earlier and they failed to show desired results.

Reforming the Bangladesh banking sector is long overdue considering the ongoing struggles, such as liquidity issues, poor resource management, capital crises, and underperforming loans and their potential ripple effect on the economy. Forced bank mergers have been the talk of the town in recent times. But we have seen most of the "known to be good banks" quite confused and concerned about the possible measures.

The world's economic landscape is changing, shifting influence from the West to the East. In this transformation, Bangladesh, marked by a tech-savvy youth population is on the path of emerging as a promising hub for startups.

In 2023, Bangladesh's capital market faced a challenging environment characterised by internal constraints and external difficulties. It proved to be a tumultuous year for the stock business marked by unprecedented lows in average turnover and foreign investments, not seen since the collapse in 2010.

Post-pandemic, Bangladesh recovered reasonably quickly and was seeing encouraging signs that the economy was well poised to return to the pre-Covid growth path. However, a combination of global inflationary pressure and supply disruptions owing to the Russia-Ukraine War, a rising US dollar, increasing international inflation rates, and the emergence of recessionary fears in advanced economies coupled with a few not-so-thoughtful domestic policy measures created a hostile economic environment for us.

For years now, a plethora of reforms have been suggested by relevant stakeholders. As reactionary measures in a lot of instances, the government has explored some of these reforms and is taking steps in the right direction. However, considering where the economy stands right now and comparing with relevant countries, Bangladesh has significant ground to cover.

Bangladesh, with its emerging technology landscape, is an attractive playground for tech giants looking to invest, shape and benefit from this market. The government, with its Vision 2021 and SMART Bangladesh 2041 strategies, has pushed for a rapid digital transformation especially focusing on the public sector. 

The recent passing of Mr Fazlur Rahman, the founder of City Group, has left a profound void in the hearts of many who are mourning the loss of an iconic entrepreneur and industrialist.

Bangladesh has long relied on its diaspora's remittances, accounting for 4.76 percent of GDP in 2022-23 – the true potential lies in fostering deeper engagement

Given the challenges, the government must dive into the issues and come up with corrective measures immediately after taking charge

We need the central bank and the market operators to come up with the right price for the dollar

In FY23, RMG contributed 10.35 % to the country's GDP, driving economic growth