The newly appointed governor of Bangladesh Bank, Dr Ahsan H Mansur has said there has to be transparency in the operations of the central bank to ensure good governance.
"There is no denying the central bank had a role in the current crisis in the banking sector of the country. There has to be transparency" he said while speaking to journalists on his first day in office on Wednesday (14 August).
"We have to look forward, progress can't be achieved without looking forward," he added.
He said incompetency in banks has to be rooted out.
"I call on the press to find out what is wrong in the system and we will address those," he added.
Regarding the ceiling on withdrawing money from banks, he said it is a temporary measure to curb money laundering amid the unrest.
He predicted that inflation would be brought under control within the next four to five months and indicated that maintaining a comfortable level of foreign reserves would help manage inflation, with the remaining reserves being utilised for imports.
He acknowledged the existing shortfall in imported goods and assured that imports would be maximised within feasible limits.
On the topic of bank mergers, the governor stated that any decisions would be made with careful consideration.
The interim government appointed Dr Ahsan H Mansur, executive director of the Policy Research Institute (PRI), as the governor of the Bangladesh Bank (BB), according to a notification of the Financial Institutions Division issued on Tuesday (13 August) night.
Dr Mansur, an eminent economist, succeeds Abdur Rouf Talukder.
He started his professional career in 1976 as a Lecturer in the Economics Department of Dhaka University.
According to the Policy Research Institute of Bangladesh's website, that same year, he moved to Canada for higher studies in economics.
As a postgraduate student and research assistant, he also regularly taught undergraduate economics courses at Western University, Ontario, from 1978 to 1981.
He later joined the International Monetary Fund (IMF) under the Economist Programme in 1981 and completed his PhD in Economics from Western University, Ontario, in 1982.
During his extensive career at the IMF, Dr Ahsan H Mansur has worked in various countries across the Middle East, Asia, Africa, and Central America.
He has served in key operational departments of the IMF, including the Fiscal Affairs Department and Policy Review and Development Department, as well as regional departments such as the Middle East and Central Asia Department and the Asia Department.
Additionally, he was the IMF’s Senior Resident Representative in Pakistan from 1998 to 2001 and served as the Financial Adviser to the Finance Minister of Bangladesh from 1989 to 1991.
