Abdul Awal Mintu in the interview

Abdul Awal Mintu is the former president of FBCCI, the apex body of traders. Currently the vice chairman of BNP. He is the chairman of several institutions including his own business, Red Arrow Seed, North South Seed, National Bank. He is also serving as Chairman of Pragati Life Insurance. Recently, in a special interview given to the media, he talked about various issues including the private sector, politics, economy of the country.

Question: How is the overall situation of the country’s economy?

Abdul Awal Mintu: There is no country where politics is very good and economy is very bad. Economy is very good, politics is very bad. As a general rule, politics controls the economy. And the better the economy, the more sophisticated the politics. one complements the other. Now there is no politics in the country. Since 2007, such kind of politics has developed in Bangladesh. It can be said in short, corrupt politics. This corrupt politics does not spare those who do business. Because such an environment has been created by the big businessmen, if you do not follow them or go in alignment with them, you are not allowed to do business. It is very straightforward. Until a political stability comes and we will not know what kind of politics will be conducted in Bangladesh. Until then, the economic condition of Bangladesh will not improve. Now there is no politics, not even corrupt politics. It is absolutely impossible for people to see the future and increase trade and investment in this unstable time. The politics of the last 16-17 years are responsible for this situation. Because politics was corrupt. If the businessmen get involved in this corrupt politics then it is very difficult to do business. Now the question is, many people have invested thousands of crores of Taka. The investment of those traders should be retained. Many thought that the businessman was with the government. I think many were unintentionally there to protect the trade. There was no other way. For 10 years, the government had a two-pronged policy on the economy. Expansionary monetary policy was for government trade and contractionary monetary policy for the private sector. You will see its reflection in the last one year. Credit is being extended to the government, but the contraction has been to the private sector. As a result, the private sector has been neglected. The financial condition of many banks has deteriorated. Now suddenly this government has come and is following the tight monetary policy of the previous government. Because of high inflation. The problem with this is that they have come with an expansionary monetary policy for a long time. Now compressing, how much. If you don’t set the criteria for it, if you keep your mouth shut, doing good can be bad. Another issue was supply shortages. What is happening now- It is very difficult to open LC to import goods. Most of the raw materials produced in the country have to be imported. If raw material cannot be imported due to lack of LC, production will stop. Tighter monetary policy is driving up interest rates. The increase in interest rates will also increase the cost of production. Will it reduce inflation? I think that if we do not follow the middle ground, the reasons for pursuing the accommodative monetary policy will go in the opposite direction and lead to further inflation.

Question: The previous government left a disaster in the economy. Even though so much talk of development, what was actually?

Abdul Awal Mintu: When there is no democracy, no fundamental rights, no constitutional rights, no voting rights, no media rights in a country, no sector can actually work independently. The most farcical election in Bangladesh took place in 2008, no one says that. The election has been done in such a way that no one could understand. Because the election was held under an unconstitutional government. Various organizations have manipulated and produced a result. A government was established through that election. Which I still think is an unelected or illegally elected government. Later that government created a kind of anarchy in the country soon after establishing itself. They have taken away the basic rights of all people except the party people. And for a handful of people, this right was excessive. They could do whatever they wanted. What has resulted is that the leaders have taken over the institutions. Election Commission, Public Service Commission and all the constitutional institutions were taken over. Apart from this, private institutions (such as FBCCI) along with state institutions and state regulatory agencies have taken over them. By taking control, they have single-handedly dominated. As a result, our economy was led to a place where operations could be run by a handful of people. It was possible for a handful of people to get loans from banks. In that context, I think that handing over the economy into the hands of a few has disrupted the productive system, hampered the use of human energy and initiative. These are very bad for the economic situation. Ministry of Planning was not presenting accurate data provided by Bureau of Statistics. So far people have not had the opportunity to say it. If the election was fair, people would have responded by voting. But there was no chance. When Bangladesh was ruled by one party and one person, everything they said to mislead people (we have reduced inequality, turned people into human resources, increased production) was misleading. As a result, these issues have now come out. We hope the current government will stop giving people false information about statistics.

Question: After coming out of fascism, the economy is being disrupted due to attacks on factories, lawsuits in the name of owners, what is the way out?

Abdul Awal Mintu: You cannot fix the economy if politics is not right. Who creates wealth for the country? Invested and built a factory, the production there is also wealth. It is the state’s responsibility to distribute the wealth produced, not us. But the country is divided into two parts. One is an acquirer of wealth, another is a creator of wealth. So those who acquire wealth have no problem. A person who tenders a product worth 100 Taka for 150 Taka has acquired wealth of 50 taka, not created wealth. But this wealth creates as many problems for them (businessmen). Because businessmen create wealth, provide services and do business, they also pay taxes. And whoever acquires wealth neither pays taxes nor invests it, but smuggles it abroad to protect it. This group is all one. When the new government comes in and says it will catch the money launderers. In the end it goes to the wealth creators. All those who are in the country, working for the development of the country, creating employment, belong to them. As long as society does not separate wealth creators and wealth acquirers, this problem will not be overcome. If you take the investors, do all kinds of injustice, then this problem will not be solved so easily. Those who invest in our country, create wealth, create employment, all the responsibilities fall on them.

Q: What is the way out of the syndicate?

Abdul Awal Mintu: The political syndicate was the biggest syndicate in the last 15 years. Small syndicates have been formed in various sectors under this political syndicate. Those who are in power now are also a syndicate. Product pricing is based on supply and demand. If the demand increases or the supply does not match the demand then the price will increase. Here the question may arise – the supply of certain products is controlled by few people. There is no denying that. But if you go to the caravan market, you will see at least 200 people selling vegetables. 200 shopkeepers are selling sugar. So how is a syndicate of 200 people? That means, the syndicate is at the top level. He is involved in politics with the syndicate. That is, until the politics is not fixed, the production will not increase until this problem will exist. The crisis will be greater. Unless the current government understands this problem and helps investors to increase production, there will be shortfall in production, cost of production will increase further. This will further increase the price. If the banking system is not fixed by bringing these into context, calling them unethical, profiteers and thieves rather than helping investors, the problem will intensify.
I want to say one more thing. Yesterday also an advisor said, you make logical profit. Is there anything written about it in our religion? i don’t know Rather, business has been encouraged in religion. Profit and excess profit is a moral issue. Now the question is, is this morality only for business groups? Just for investors? Those who do politics, teachers, engineers, doctors do not need ethics? You go to the government hospital and find there is no doctor there. There is no moral problem for them. All ethics in Bangladesh apply only to businessmen. Ethics should be considered as part of social capital. Based on the social capital in which the country invests, investment grows and expands. One part of that social capital is ethics. Trust in each other, help-cooperation, abide by mutual agreements. But until this morality starts from politics, this morality will not be effective in the society. Social capital will not be created until morals are in place. Financial capital is not invested in societies that lack social capital.

Question: Taking over the bank beyond the market syndicate, assigning bank responsibilities to the syndicate people and giving new bank licenses to their party people. As a result, people’s deposits in banks have been looted, the trend of defaulting has increased. It destroyed our financial sector. What is your take on the financial sector’s plight as a whole?

Abdul Awal Mintu: The incidence of non-payment of loans will increase. One of the reasons for this is taking over the institution. Transfer of institutions to the ownership of a group or control of institutions. In the last 15 years every institution has been taken over by its allies through a political party. These include constitutional, state institutions or state regulatory agencies. As we have seen, one group controls 10-12 banks. But the rest of the banks are also controlled by some family. These are very rare events in the history of the world. Now suppose an investor has a loan of 5 thousand crore Taka. Earlier the rate of interest was 9 percent, but now it has gone up to 15 percent. Investors are currently unable to produce and LC due to lack of raw materials. Although raw materials can be imported, the cost of production is increasing due to the increase in the dollar price. Corruption, rising dollar value and rising interest rates are behind the rise in production costs. If these three things are not controlled, the price of goods will increase. But if you ask investors for this price increase, it is difficult. Those who never invested, did not create wealth, did not create employment, they forcefully impose one thing on the investors. Trade will not expand, investment will not increase, employment will not increase until this reverse system of society is not corrected. The anti-discrimination student movement took place for employment. So how will discrimination be reduced you say.

Question: What is the way out of bad situation for banks and financial sector institutions?

Abdul Awal Mintu: Governor can tell the way out of here. He is not going there as we advised the governor. He is following the prescription of the IMF. I have known the governor for a long time. He is an honest man. I have no complaint against him. But if he does not take a decision in view of the reality, then the condition of the banking sector of the country will worsen, the economic condition of the country will worsen. I have spoken to him several times. He said, there is a problem, we will not allow this problem to increase. That is why he is helping. But the amount of assistance is not enough.
Now suppose, you need antibiotics to solve the problem. But the doctor gave you headache medicine. It may relieve headache. But your problem will not be solved. It seems to me that the governor is removing the headache, but not solving the problem. I request the governor to start the antibiotic. The social condition of the country, political condition, economic condition, character of people should be brought together to solve the problem. Otherwise if you try to solve the problem with the integrity of your character, the problem of the country will increase.

Question: In the last 15 years business organizations have also been brought under a lot of political influence. What is the way out of here?
Abdul Awal Mintu: The previous government imposed such a party structure on every institution that no one dared to go outside. There are two reasons for this. One is factionalism and the other is to cover up business irregularities. In the past 15 years, the ruling group has allowed the subordinates to take over private institutions for their own party interests. Apart from this, others could not come to the leadership. It is not only in business organizations, but in all sectors, the government installed people of its own party. Institutions of all sectors including public-private, cultural, sports were under their control. Now it is not possible to solve the problem by putting the blame on one group. The current government wants reforms, we also want reforms. Reforms in the business sector will only be possible if there are political reforms. To me, the political motto seems to be a democratic government of the country, a government that is directly representative of the people. The government will be elected through free, fair and acceptable elections. You can’t say the government has any accountability until it happens. If the government is not accountable why are you looking for the accountability of business groups? Why are cultural groups, media, sports federations looking for accountability? We have a local proverb – fish rots from the head. The head of everything in the country is politics. First he decided the politics of the country. The only way to fix it is through representative government. He started reforming it.

Question: Even after such a big coup, there will be no change in the country’s politics? What do you think?

Abdul Awal Mintu: It cannot be said now. When elections are held, a political party comes to power, we can see how they use their power. It is not possible to say at the moment. But my political party has proposed to reform by mentioning 31 points. It seems to me that my party will reform. I can’t speak for others. But let me say one thing, no reform will be sustainable until accountability to the people can be ensured. Because there are some constitutional reforms, some are institutional, regulatory bodies, inspection team reforms. There is no problem in doing these. But accountability to the people will be necessary whenever constitutional and legal reforms are undertaken. Because otherwise the reforms will not be sustainable. If you look at the old history of the country, you will see that the government of 1/11 has reformed 189-90 laws. A lot has changed. The previous government also promised to enact these reforms. But later only five-six laws were amended and passed. They are also cut down to a level that is worse than before. So if you want to make sustainable reforms, you have to take people’s opinion. If the opinion of the people is not taken then there is no guarantee of how much the next government will do the reforms.

Question: There are numerous cases in the name of businessmen, many have stopped investing. As a result, employment has stagnated. How can these cases be explained?

Abdul Awal Mintu: Legal action will be taken against anyone who does wrong. You can arrest someone based on specific information. But if bail is not given, where is the difference between the previous situation and the current situation? Now think that one or two businessmen have been arrested with a case. So how will their businesses run? If someone has done wrong, let him be judged. But if a businessman is jailed for a long time before trial and destroys his business, his family will suffer. The bigger problem is what will happen to the employees who work in their company? That’s why I think, one injustice cannot cover another injustice, nor can justice be established. Justice is to ensure justice when someone is found guilty. But we have seen the evils of jailing before trial on 1/11. If this continues, the plight of the economy will increase.

Question: Where do you want to see the country’s economy in the future?

Abdul Awal Mintu: All the citizens want to see that the wealth of the country increases by increasing investment in the country, creating sufficient employment, increasing employment and production. Let Bangladesh become a developed country from an ordinary underdeveloped country. This is what I want. The kind of laws, regulations and thinking that is needed to move the country forward in this way is not seen. My wish is to increase investment and employment in the country. Every citizen of the country has right to get job according to his/her merit. But when he doesn’t get a job, there will be discrimination. Then he will fight in the street, steal, rob. What is the use of blaming him? Those who control the country’s politics and economy are responsible for this. The country’s politicians think that investors control the economy. Actually it is not. Politicians are the main regulators of the economy. So to fix everything, politics must be fixed first.
My request is to fix the environment and fix the banking system so that we can invest. Through investment, the country’s production, wealth, and employment will be created. Discrimination will gradually decrease. If wealth is not created, where will you distribute it? Who creates wealth? Politicians create wealth I don’t have such information. Politicians can steal wealth, but not create it. That the investor does through production, through innovative power.

Question: Thank you for your time.
Abdul Awal Mintu: You are also rich.