Bangladesh Bank Governor Ahsan H. Mansur has said that it will take time for the country’s overall economy to recover from the hole it has fallen into. He also said that the current government is working on this issue.

The governor said, there is a problem, we are working. We can recover from the hole we have fallen into, but it will take time. I have said before that it will take us 12 to 18 months.

He said, inflation has come down from 12.5 percent to below 10 percent. Imports increased by 20 to 50 percent from October to January. LC opening has also increased at a huge rate. I am optimistic that the prices of goods will not increase during Ramadan.

He made these remarks as a special guest at the third session of the second day of a two-day conference titled ‘Recommendations by the Task Force on Restrategizing the Economy’ at the Mohakhali BRAC Center in the capital on Tuesday (February 25).

The conference was organized by the Center for Policy Dialogue (CPD), a private research organization. The second day of the conference discussed macroeconomic policy and governance in the banking sector. The session was chaired by Professor Mustafizur Rahman, Honorary Fellow of CPD. Keynote presentations were made by CPD Managing Directors Dr. Fahmida Khatun and Dr. Manjur Hossain. Both of them are members of the Task Force.

The governor said, Islami Bank and United Commercial Bank (UCB) will graduate. They will not need any financial assistance. These two banks cover 55-60 percent of the liquidity in the personal sector. So, we hope that more than half of the problems will be solved. We have also kept the remaining banks under observation.

He said, we all know the problems of the banking sector. We are trying to restore good governance in the banking sector. Some banks have 87 percent of defaulted loans, which may not be possible to save. 87 percent of the 100 percent loans of some banks have been given to the same family.

He also said, the Banking Resolution Act is being implemented. Along with private banks, several government banks also have problems. We are supervising. I hope to come to a decision very soon.

Ahsan H. Mansur said, the insurance amount has been doubled. Earlier it was 1 lakh, which has now been increased to 2 lakh. We are working on the compliance of the banking sector. We have also issued a notification.

The Governor also said, “We are restructuring Bangladesh Bank, which has already started. We are closing unnecessary departments and transferring manpower to other necessary departments. We are not working on digital banking at the moment. It will take a little more time. We are paying more attention to mobile financial services. We are paying attention to how QR codes and payment systems can be further improved. We have taken steps to revamp the IT system. Which will increase capacity and functionality. We will bring as much transparency as possible in the field of data.” He said, “Bangladesh Bank’s website is the most secure. We are working to reduce the time for publishing export information. We have conducted a survey on how much money has been deposited in each area of ​​the country since 1972. If this is done, a complete picture will be available.”

‘If the loan cannot be repaid, the bank can become a shareholder and can sit on the board. If it has taken extra money, the bank can become a majority shareholder. As a result, before taking a loan, big companies should think about repaying this loan,’ he said.

He said, in the case of loan contracts, we are arranging a standardized contract so that there is no wording difference between small and medium loans. A policy decision has been made on the autonomy of Bangladesh Bank. I hope to be able to take it to the cabinet within three to four months. So that there is no political interference in the future.