'Surgery' is of 9 banks, first is the bank
September 25, 20242 Mins Read

Jumbangla Desk: Bangladesh Bank has decided to carry out a special audit through a task force to identify the deep-rooted problems of the country's nine troubled banks and solve them. Bangladesh Bank Governor Ahsan H Mansoor informed this information on Monday.

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He said this while talking about the ongoing liquidity crisis of the banks in a press conference at the central bank's head office on Tuesday (September 24).

The central bank has recently formed a six-member task force under the leadership of the governor to reform the country's banking sector, which was plagued by widespread irregularities during the last Awami League government.

"Initially we will audit nine banks in three phases through a task force. The first step will be to audit Islami Bank,' said the governor.

He said that Bangladesh Bank has a plan to merge small distressed banks to reduce the number of banks in the country.

The task force will also begin its activities by appointing several foreign inspectors.

Ahsan H Mansoor said the task force will identify the causes of resource loss, locate the resources and work to recover the resources.

Officials from all three parties will participate in this inspection.

Funded by development partners, the initiative will also involve international audit institutions and foreign inspectors.

The governor emphasized that the task force would primarily focus on identifying cases of money withdrawals from banks under fake or real names.

Efforts will be made to bring back money smuggled abroad in accordance with international law, prioritizing important cases.

Ahsan H Mansoor indicated that policy rates will be hiked further this week and next month.

Inflation in the country has been above 9 percent since March last year. This has resulted in repeated policy rate hikes as recommended by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The governor said that while traders stressed on reducing inflation, the central bank's current monetary policy remains in place but will be tightened slightly.

He said inflation is expected to come down to 5-6 percent in the next seven to eight months.