Banking sector needs urgent reformation: Speakers

Speakers at a roundtable urged the government to take swift measures to reform the banking sector and set up a dedicated commission to this end.

Noted economist Professor Dr Mainul Islam presented the keynote paper at the programme arranged by Shushashoner Jonno Nagorik at the National Press Club on Saturday.

"Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal said he won't give a single taka loan to defaulters. He applied a trick to simplify the process of writing-off bad debt. Various banks are now able to increase write-offs using this relaxed method," Professor Islam said.

Writing-off more bad debts will help banks show less classified loans, he said.

Dr Badiul Alam Majumder, secretary of Shushashoner Jonno Nagorik (Shujan), a civil society platform for good governance, said economic mischief is sustained by political mischief. 

"Politics has to be ideology-based to eliminate economic mismanagement," he opined.

Eminent columnist Syed Abul Maksud, parliamentarian Barrister Rumeen Farhana and former deputy governor of Bangladesh Bank Khandakar Ibrahim Khaled also spoke at the programme.